UKC

ISIS - Islamic State in Syria
ISIL - Islamic State of Iraq and The Levant
IS - Islamic State

So why do the BBC keep referring to them as the "so called group Islamic State...." ???
(Or is it just BBC? Other news channels are available....I just don't happen to watch them!)

Probably not the most pressing concern regarding ISIS/ISIL, but just wondering nonetheless.

In reply to peebles boy:

Presumably because, despite the name they are not a state, and perhaps not Islamic either but I'm not qualified to judge on that one.

In reply to peebles boy:

Possibly to imply they're either not 'Islamic' or not a proper state.

The latest IS recruit from the UK to meet his 72 virgins was described on the BBC as a 'sympathiser', presumably to make him sound a bit more ..er.. worthy of sympathy.

In reply to Wiley Coyote:

Snap

In reply to Wiley Coyote:

Fair enough, but I don't remember them being referred to as "so called" initially - what (or who....) changed that?

In reply to peebles boy:


Presumably someone with the words 'head of..' or 'editor' in their title (which at the Beeb would not be narrowing it down very much) said 'Why are we calling this lot Islamic State when they are not a state?' and decided house style would be to add 'so-called'. It happens all the time in news organisations that an editor will decide on a particular form. I once worked for an editor who banned the word 'vandal' because they were a historic tribe and decided that the paper would use the word 'hooligan' instead. One of the minor perks of the job is that you get to ride your hobby horses/pompous asses now and again..

In reply to Wiley Coyote:

I'd supposed it was being done to distance the Muslim community in the UK from Islamist groups.

In reply to Ridge:

Ah, but was it 72 virgins he was going to meet? There is some doubt from some scholars...
http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/weblogs/idiotprogrammer/2006/06/virgins-or-r...

In reply to Ridge:


Or maybe because they killed a journo

In reply to Wiley Coyote:


They're trying to save Isis, the labradog in Downton Abbey from getting written out for being a terrorist.

In reply to peebles boy:

Because just calling them "Islamic State" would validate them?

In reply to peebles boy:


It does make the presenters sound like the reactionary nutjob from Down the Line.

Did they do this with the IRA back in the day?

In reply to girlymonkey:


I'm not sure these promises of virgins( or raisins) are all they are cracked up to be if you think it through.

You just have to look around (men and women ) in the street and ( with your own standards/ predudices, )make a shallow guess if someone is a virgin or not.
That is most likely to be based ( on a shallow) judgement on good looks.

I'm guessing when people think of going to 'heaven ' with' 72 virgins they are picturing all georgeous beautiful looking (and young ) people, they might well be lovely people, but not necessarily lovely looking people.

Before I head off to fight and die for 72 virgins, I want to know how good looking they are, what their personalities are like, and always remember, that once you have your evil way with them, they will not then be virgins anymore.

But they will still hang around you -for eternity. ........

In reply to Jim C:

Looking at some of the British recruits to IS, we may well be keeping paradise stocked with virgins...

In reply to Jim C:


This might be the key problem in the whole business.


Presumably every martyr gets their own specific virgins that are spontaneously sparked into existence as soon as they died, rather than just being allocated some from the stock of people in heaven who happen to have died as virgins. Otherwise there'd be supply/demand issues, one would think.

In reply to Removed UserBwox:

A lot of these countries have very high infant mortality rates. I suspect they don't know how much babysitting the afterlife entails.

In reply to Jim C:


I am assuming that is 72 virgin females...could be a bit of a shock if its a mixed bag, so to speak, and what's the attraction of virgins anyway..I was one once...it was rubbish...

In reply to Jim C:

Given that most or all jihadis are male and quite prone to look down on women as self-evidently inferior (for some obscure reason this is considered controversial in Western culture), presumably most of these virgins are female (and compliant? Do the virgins get any choice in the matter?). They will probably also be teenage girls, to achieve the maximum physical attractiveness.

I suspect that the jihadis concerned don't know much about teenage girls. Petulance, moods, bitchiness, tantrums and fusses about clothes, boys or just nothing - one would be bad enough, 72 is really wishing extra misery on yourself, especially when you cannot ever get away from them, for eternity. In fact, 72 teenage girls sounds rather more like hell than heaven, so perhaps it is all a rather cruel divine joke. After all, Allah doesn't promise sheds to hide away in, fishing trips and certainly no climbing to provide a bit of a break from all the squabbling and fussing.

All they can hope for is the mistranslation option, that it really did mean rasins. That would be far less trouble and far more tolerable, if a bit samey after the first few thousand years so that you might want something savory to eat instead of all those bloody raisins.

In reply to Simon4:


Aren't you confusing teenage girls with boulderers?

In reply to Removed UserBwox:


http://www.fortressoffaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Danish-Cartoon-9....

In reply to PeterM:

Aye, beware the small print.....

youtube.com/watch?v=1dxpMTFBg48&

Though I'd tend to agree with Satan in "old Harry's Game" when he said

"surely 72 experienced women would be more of a reward?"

Cheers,

Stuart

In reply to Clauso:

They might be teenage girls, virgins AND boulderers!

Always remember, no matter how bad your situation, someone else is worse off, having really drawn the virgin booby prize.

To revert to the conventional theory that these houris are teenage girls, presumably Allah can compel them to be sexually compliant, even to the most unprepossessing of jihadis. But this will not stop them continually, loudly and intrusively whining, moaning and bitching, because there is no force in heaven or earth that can stop teenage girls from doing that.

The ancient Greeks had a series of stories about the Gods having a warped sense of humour. One particular mortal was offered any gift by a Goddess, so chose immortal life. The goddess noted that he had failed to ask for eternal youth and beauty to go with it, grinned for a moment, and then said "are you quite sure about this?"

Mortal "absolutely, that is just what I want"

Goddess "well its your funeral"

Which of course it never was, given that he was now immortal. But he could and did get progressively older, more decrepit and miserable, being unable to die.

I rather suspect these jihadis, or Allah, similarly haven't thought things through enough, which is a bit of a problem when you are talking about eternity.