The war of the acronyms: The acronym war is more than an idle contest between IL and IS, its a key to understanding the Wests mindset and the Muslim worlds post-colonial anger. When President Obama and members of his administration insist on referring to Daesh radicals as ISIL, they are paying homage to the regions colonial legacy -- the residue of a time when the Muslim masses were routinely humiliated by European hegemony. Thats because the L in ISIL stands for the Levant a French word that evokes vivid images of Frances brutal colonial control of the region. The acronym ISIS refers to al-Shams, the Arabic word for roughly the same region described by the term Levant. Perhaps the Prez insistently uses the term because it promotes some purpose of propaganda. That may well be the case. But by using the acronym for the Levant, the US is alienating the very people it wants to endear by reminding them of their colonial history and reinforcing their sense of grievance with the West.
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 18:21:08 +0000
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