One of the most interesting – often intriguing – aspects of any conflict is the role of language in either calming or inflaming feelings of apprehension, division, fear and hatred that lie between the conflicting parties. In the aftermath of 9/11, the world was introduced to the term “terrorism” and “terrorist” under a new definition – a considerably vague and loose one. Suddenly, the whole world seemed to be engulfed by, or engaged with the “war on terror” in one way or another. Parties on opposing sides of the same conflict would each claim to be fighting terrorists and waging war against terrorism. This evolved to include terms such as radicalism, fundamentalism and extremism, and the impact was to spread the net of suspicion and animosity much further and wider than was allowed by the term “terrorism”
