120in his last two years. Yet, in an almost comical twist
that I have come to label the Volde mor t e f fec t ,^21 as of
the time of this dialogue, President Obama still
cannot bring himself to name this ideology.
The Volde mor t e f fec t in this context entails not
naming Islamism, nor distinguishing it from the
multifaceted religion. By highlighting the need to
“tackle the Islamic State’s ideology” but refusing to
name it, President Obama only increased the pub-
lic’s fear and made it easier for Muslimphobes, who
will naturally assume the ideology Obama refers to
is “Islam,” to blame all Muslims.
As we have discussed, however, Islam is just a
religion. Islamism is the ideology that seeks to im-
pose any version of Islam over society. Islamism is,
therefore, theocratic extremism. Jihadism is the use
of force to spread Islamism. Jihadist terrorism is the
use of force that targets civilians to spread Islamism.
The Islamic State is merely one jihadist terrorist
group. The prob lem was never “al-Qaeda- inspired”
- Voldemort is the villain in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter
novels. The other characters in this story are so petrifi ed of
Voldemort that they refer to him as “He Who Must Not Be
Named.” Only a few diehards are prepared to call Volde-
mort by his actual name.
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