Police to drop ‘Islamist’ term when describing terror attacks | Phil Gurski

What we call "terrorism matters"! There are those out there who want authorities to stop calling Islamist terrorism by that name. Alternatives include "faith-based terrorism" and "terrorists abusing religious motivations". In this Quick Hits podcast, Phil Gurski argues why this is wrong-headed and counterproductive.

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Teaser
00:33 "Medical Police" Netflix Series
02:27 Negative perceptions and stereotypes
02:59 Police may drop ‘Islamist’ term when describing terror attacks
03:44 "Faith-claimed terrorism”
04:03 The term “Islamist terrorism” is accurate
05:18 “Terrorists abusing religious motivations”
05:50 Cancel Culture
06:47 What we call "terrorism" matthers
08:58 This is wrong-headed and counterproductive
09:57 Contact Phil Gurski

ABOUT PHIL GURSKI:
Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.

Hosted by Phil Gurski
Edited by Jean-Baptiste Pelland-Goulet
Produced by Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting
#CanadianIntelligenceEh #PhilGurski

[CanadianIntelligenceEh]

What do you think about the new terms "faith-based terrorism" and "terrorists abusing religious motivations"? Is this language reform helpful or counterproductive?

[centurionzen]

Honestly, I'm OK with it as long as the following is met:
1. It's shorter. It's already exhausting to use the word terrorism more than once in a sentence. I invented the word terrogen because removing 2 letters makes a world of a difference.

2. It's still vaguely accurate. It doesn't have to be precise but it still has to describe what you're talking about in one word. Put another way, don't invent wordon't invent words to a point where people have to look up the definition - it should still describe what you're talking about.

3. No flip-flops. If you choose a new word, you should be ready to stick with it for more than 20 years. Changing the terms every few months is bound to cause a Bureaucratic nightmare at best. Once you've made up your mind, sick with it.