A women's clothing store in the United Kingdom named after an Egyptian mythological figure becomes the target of hate mail and harassment, as the UK's Daily Mail reports.
Jill Campbell is the owner of women's clothing store Isis Boutique in Malvern (Worcestershire). Her store is named after the Egyptian goddess Isis. Ms Campbell came up with the name after leaving Oxford in 2007, explaining "The river in Oxford is named locally as ISIS and it is also the Egyptian goddess of magic, mystique, beauty and femininity which is everything the shop is all about." The boutique has been in business for seven years.
The past few months, as the western world has been getting to know the terrorists and murderers in Iraq and Syria known as "ISIS", Ms. Campbell's store has been coming under threat. Not because she supports ISIS or anything like that but because the name of her boutique sounds similar to one of the acronyms used by the "Islamic State" terrorist group. For those who can't keep up with all the name changing, ISIS stands for "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria".
According to the article, staff and customers at the store have been subjected to verbal abuse and threats, hate mail and nasty comments. While I understand that not everyone shares my interests (some of which are history, comparative religion, ancient Egypt and Biblical archaeology), surely people have access to the internet, libraries, encyclopaedias, books - anything which can tell them about the many, many differences between a modern-day terrorist group and a goddess the ancient Egyptians believed in thousands of years ago?
As the Isis Boutique has been in business for seven years, giving in to these threats and changing the shop's name seems ridiculous to me. Different plan: Instead of renaming the store, why not re-educate the public? I don't mean that people need to start learning about history and ancient Egypt (as interesting as those subjects are), that's all up to them. I do mean that the people making these threats need to examine their own thinking and realise that in trying to be anti-terrorist, they are acting a lot like terrorists themselves.
Sending letter bombs and threatening the safety and security of innocent civilians, those are things that terrorists do, not things civilised people say or do (or threaten to do).
I find it shocking to see that people can (seemingly) be against terrorist group ISIS, against the vile tactics they employ and against all they stand for, yet find no wrong in sinking to their level and employing similar tactics to ISIS in order to achieve their own goals.
According to the Office for National Statistics, "in 2013, 36 million adults (73%) in Great Britain accessed the Internet every day, 20 million more than in 2006, when directly comparable records began." I'm not under the illusion that 36 million adults will read this article. Yet I do hope to reach 36 people, maybe 360 or even 3600. I hope to remind those people - you - that violence is not the answer; that murder, rape, intimidation, threats and (letter) bombs are not the way to defeat an enemy.
Defeating these inhuman and murderous "Islamic State" terrorists means beating them, being stronger and smarter and mightier than they are, being better. Not just when it comes to military might but also - especially so - when it comes to morality. We refuse to commit the vile acts they seem to commit so casually. That is what makes 'us' different from 'them'. Let's remember that, especially when dealing with our fellow human beings!
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| Source: Isis Boutique Facebook page |
The past few months, as the western world has been getting to know the terrorists and murderers in Iraq and Syria known as "ISIS", Ms. Campbell's store has been coming under threat. Not because she supports ISIS or anything like that but because the name of her boutique sounds similar to one of the acronyms used by the "Islamic State" terrorist group. For those who can't keep up with all the name changing, ISIS stands for "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria".
According to the article, staff and customers at the store have been subjected to verbal abuse and threats, hate mail and nasty comments. While I understand that not everyone shares my interests (some of which are history, comparative religion, ancient Egypt and Biblical archaeology), surely people have access to the internet, libraries, encyclopaedias, books - anything which can tell them about the many, many differences between a modern-day terrorist group and a goddess the ancient Egyptians believed in thousands of years ago?
'There was a particularly nasty comment on our Facebook page from someone who said we would get a letter bomb in the shop if we didn't change our name.
'Another person posted "Terrorism comes to Malvern" alongside a picture of the front of our shop.
'I overheard another couple talking about the name last weekend when the woman said to her partner "look that shop's called ISIS" and he said "they're the ones who have been beheading everybody".'
As the Isis Boutique has been in business for seven years, giving in to these threats and changing the shop's name seems ridiculous to me. Different plan: Instead of renaming the store, why not re-educate the public? I don't mean that people need to start learning about history and ancient Egypt (as interesting as those subjects are), that's all up to them. I do mean that the people making these threats need to examine their own thinking and realise that in trying to be anti-terrorist, they are acting a lot like terrorists themselves.
Sending letter bombs and threatening the safety and security of innocent civilians, those are things that terrorists do, not things civilised people say or do (or threaten to do).
I find it shocking to see that people can (seemingly) be against terrorist group ISIS, against the vile tactics they employ and against all they stand for, yet find no wrong in sinking to their level and employing similar tactics to ISIS in order to achieve their own goals.
According to the Office for National Statistics, "in 2013, 36 million adults (73%) in Great Britain accessed the Internet every day, 20 million more than in 2006, when directly comparable records began." I'm not under the illusion that 36 million adults will read this article. Yet I do hope to reach 36 people, maybe 360 or even 3600. I hope to remind those people - you - that violence is not the answer; that murder, rape, intimidation, threats and (letter) bombs are not the way to defeat an enemy.
Defeating these inhuman and murderous "Islamic State" terrorists means beating them, being stronger and smarter and mightier than they are, being better. Not just when it comes to military might but also - especially so - when it comes to morality. We refuse to commit the vile acts they seem to commit so casually. That is what makes 'us' different from 'them'. Let's remember that, especially when dealing with our fellow human beings!