Terrorism? Let’s Call It What It Is.

“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” —John F. Kennedy

Like many Americans, last Friday night I sat, transfixed before my TV, watching the events in Paris unfold. By the time the dust settled, 129 lives were lost and dozens more wounded during six separate attacks, and once more our lives were changed, our world becoming less safe. An attack against our French allies was an attack against not only America but against the entire free world.

ISIL was quick to claim responsibility, twittering their glee in the aftermath, and there is little reason to think they were not behind this event that cost the most lives in France since World War II.

ISIL is not, as President Obama claimed, the JV team, nor are they “contained” as he stated as recently as a week ago.

Yet when I retired for the night I couldn’t help but wonder if the media isn’t feeding the frenzy of Islamic extremists with their usage of terms like “terror”, “slaughter”, and “horrific.”

I don’t deny what transpired was horrific, or that the “slaughter” was real—a more accurate term I can’t think of when coupled with what one survivor at a concert venue described as “shooting birds.” I can’t imagine the terror that must’ve been felt as these animals fired their AK-47s indiscriminately at helpless Parisians. This was not a hostage situation. It was murder plain and simple, for a cause in the name of a God who cannot in any way be pleased.

Unlike World War II, this is a war of ideals, a war that likely cannot be won by the nations of the free world. The Taliban wasn’t beaten; they simply morphed into al-Qaeda, and they into ISIL. Squash one cockroach and three more scurry out from the garbage heap.

Which brings me back to the media: they’d do best, help the fight, by calling these extremists what they truly are—cowards committing cowardly acts against humanity.

#Terrorism #parisattacks #JCGuest #Humanity