OT (or is it?): American Imperialism

[AMF]

Renegade 13 said:
When you talk about Ireland, and the fighting that goes on there, do you not say "the Catholics fighting the Protestants"? Is that also severe religious discrimination? I highly doubt that all Catholics and Protestants are fighting, no?

It is not severe religious discrimination to say "Islamic terrorists" because it is simply a distinguishing identifier. It is no worse than saying "that white serial killer". If you say "that white serial killer" are you discriminating against all white people? I think not. That's not discrimination, it's just an identifier, so people know what you're talking about.

The difference lies in the word "the" - iEnglish, "the" identifies a specific noun (the white serial killer") whereas, if left off, applies to ALL of that class of subjects. Hence, I would think that, grammatically speaking, equating "the white serial killer" with "the islamic terrorists" is fine. But by saying "islamic terrorist" you are essentially saying ALL muslims are terorrists.