ISIS / ISIL / DAESH / Islamic State - Evil personified?

"All concerns of men go wrong when they wish to cure evil with evil" - Sophocles.

http://www.notable-quotes.com/e/evil_quotes.html 

We have a bit of a problem when we can't even agree on a name for the evil that is DAESH. The public can be forgiven for being confused. If we are to fight this abhorrent organisation we should be unequivocal in our language & at least all agree what to call it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant 

 

The language we use is really important because we don't want to "cure evil with evil" as Sophocles says. We need to inform, not inflame. We should raise awareness accurately. We have to counter the misinformation & radicalisation of young people with truth. Most of all we should look honestly at why so many young people in the West feel so alienated from our culture.

 

Tolerance and respect are learned behaviours. We don't have a right to either, we have to earn them. There is more than one religion & there is more than one model of democracy. The trick is to try to understand difference and accept that we don't have all the right answers.

 

Man seemingly has a great capacity for justifying his actions. Yet all religions agree on the fact that taking life is wrong & cannot be justified. Human behaviour seems to encompass everything from the completely selfless and altruistic to the totally base & cruel. 

 

We are all indoctrinated to a certain extent. It could be argued that education is indoctrination. But we have access to information on an unprecidented scale. We also have the power to think & discriminate. 

 

DAESH is a serious problem for the world. It cannot be impossible to find a solution if countries & peoples can act together to counter the terror. Ultimately we have the power to chose & need to exercise that power wisely.