Today on Hudson NY (via RaymondIbrahim.com) I discuss the administration’s ongoing campaign to eradicate words, and thus knowledge, concerning Islam, including the argument that, by using words like mujahid, we “legitimize” the jihadists in the eyes of the Muslim world:
[…] the notion that the words we use can ever have an impact on what is and is not legitimate for Muslims is ludicrous: Muslims are not waiting around for Americans or their government””that is, the misguided, the deluded, in a word, the infidel””to define Islam for them. For Muslims, only Sharia determines right and wrong.
The U.S. government needs to worry less about which words appease Muslims and worry more about providing its intelligence community””not to mention its own citizenry””with accurate knowledge concerning the nature of the threat.
Without words related to Islam, how are analysts to make sense of the current conflict? What are the goals and motivations of the “jihadists”? What are their methods? Who might be “radicalizing” them? Whom are they affiliated to? Who supports them? These and a host of other questions are unintelligible without free use of words related to Islam.
Knowledge is inextricably linked to language. The more generic the language, the less precise the knowledge; conversely, the more precise the language, the more precise the knowledge. In the current conflict, to acquire accurate knowledge, which is essential to victory, we need to begin with accurate language…