The WP chided: Yes, most extremist activity these days is from Islamic groups, but using Islamic in a conference title is not the best of all possible ideas. And heres why: Labeling limits. As soon as you stick a label on it, youve limited the scope of the conversation. Youve also given license for other groups to be excluded from consideration. For example, the marauding Buddhist monks in Myanmar and the Christian militia in Central African Republic are terrorist groups and are clearly _not_ Muslim. By excluding Islam from the title, the conference becomes, perhaps, a safe place to discuss all extremist groups, instead of just the one. It does not make the Charlie Hebdo massacre appear to be a random act of violence; instead it says all groups perpetrating violence are considered in the whole group. It gives tacit permission NOT to discuss other forms of terrorism. Let them leave the label off. No one should be omitted or excluded from this conversation due to semantics. published at 11:03 a.m.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 17:16:51 +0000