So-Called

[poliphilo]

All things are illusory, right? And names and titles mean nothing. So well done the BBC for adopting the highly philosophical usage, "So-called Islamic State"! I just wish they'd extend it to other institutions.

For example:

So-called Tory/Labour party

So-called Royal family

So-called British Broadcasting Corporation.

Comments

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

So-called Live Journal.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes.

So-called bloody everything!

[matrixmann]

So-called International Monetary Fund.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So-called European Union.

So-called United States of America...

This is fun, isn't it?

[matrixmann]

It would finally add some truth to journalism after a hundred years of dark Middle Ages.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

It makes sense to use the phrase "self-described Islamic State" or "so-called Islamic State", because, while it IS Islamic, it's not actually a state. It WANTS to be a state; it's killing people in an attempt to take over land to become a state, but it's not a state.

I can call my house "The Island of Xiphias", but it's not going to surround my house with water. My house ISN'T an island, even if I call it one. I could start digging a trench around my house and filling it with water, and maybe I could turn my house into an island, but, until I managed to do so, I would be living in the "so-called Island of Xiphias," not "the Island of Xiphias."

If the so-called Islamic State actually succeeds in conquering the territory it's trying to conquer, THEN it would be more than merely "so-called".

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So what does constitute a state? IS controls territory- and is applying its theories of government to them. What more does it take?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Primarily, being recognized as legitimate by other governments. Which is why the "so-called" construction is so important.

[splodgenoodles.livejournal.com]

I thought it was because many moslems are of the opinion that IS are not Islamic.

Hence among moslems they are called "daeshe" which roughly translates to "arsehole".

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

That makes sense, too. So, in algebraic terms, it's SO-CALLED(ISLAMIC STATE), which expands to "so-called Islamic so-called State".

So, if the groups of people who I consider the "good guys" all either deny their Islam or their statehood or both, I've got no problem calling it the "sarcasm-quotes 'Islamic' sarcasm-quotes 'State'", but that's awkward enough that the BBC and NPR both abbreviate it to "so-called Islamic State" or "self-described Islamic State".

I'm comfortable with that.