To the editor:
First my heart goes out to family, friends and all Muslim communities following the tragic loss of the five peace loving men in Quebec City.
As we all know, there is a terrorist organization in Iraq and Syria and God knows where else. They have much of the world frightened and displaced and are stretching the boarders of war and hate to all parts of the world.
Why have we, our media and our governments, validated their existence with such an acronym (ISIS). What’s in a name? This name promotes their cause and recruits desperate young people who have distorted ideological visions of a fantasized Islamic state. I didn’t check but I don’t think the United Nations recognize them as a state. I think they simply gave themselves that name. Good marketing I guess. Perhaps more tragic is that we call these terrorists Islamic. This is an insult to the billions of peace-loving Muslims practicing Islam around the world. I have met many and lived among those who practice Islam and they are beautiful people. Unfortunately, as we have just seen in Quebec, it has become more than an insult. This dangerous acronym has helped to foster a distorted assumption, painting all Muslims with the ISIS brush. 99 per cent of us, at least in Canada, don’t see Muslims in this way, but it only takes a few or only one, misinformed and unbalanced person to use the ISIS brush to spread hate and even kill innocent peace loving people, destroying their families and communities.
That is what is in the name. It is false, destructive and we should stop promoting it. Drop it. Perhaps a contest to come up with a more appropriate name would work. Perhaps Daiesh or whatever they are referred to in the east. I don’t think they like that name.
Jeff Oland, Kelowna
