British counter-terrorism officials have said that government ministers must abandon “offensive and inappropriate” language. They were not talking about profanity, however. The “language” referred to was politically incorrect statements that could offend Islamist sympathizers.

National Security Service (MI5) chief Jonathan Evans warned earlier this month that terrorists were radicalizing people as young as 15 to carry out acts of terrorism in Britain. Britain’s youth are turning against their own country. As a means of curbing this trend, Evans has said that close attention must be paid to “our use of language” so as to avoid offending any would-be Islamist terrorist. “We are tackling a threat which finds its roots in ideology, so words really do matter,” he commented.

MI5 chiefs argue that the phrase “war on terrorism” is an exaggeration that legitimizes the actions of suicide bombers. To avoid offense, it is now the “struggle against terrorism.”

One counter-terrorism official said that the terrorist threat must never be described as a “Muslim problem.”

Officials from Whitehall have been asked to draft “counter narratives” to the anti-Western, jihadist propaganda on the Internet. These “narratives” will non-offensively explain the weaknesses in the arguments of extremist groups and support “alternate voices” in the Muslim community.

Britain has decided to win the hearts and minds of its youth by de-emphasizing the evil nature of radical Islamic terrorism. Somehow counter-terrorism officials reason that if they use language that makes terrorist activities sound less bad, they will avoid driving their youth to its ideology.

As journalist Melanie Phillips said, “Far from upholding and protecting the culture that is under attack, the British government and counter-terrorism establishment are instead pushing us all further down this dark path. The lights are going out in Britain. This is the way freedom dies.”