Europol and the media are reporting that ISIS intends to carry out a special forces-style attack. “The Islamic State terror group is preparing ‘Mumbai-style’ attacks to be carried out in Europe by a ‘special forces-style’ group of militants, the chief of the European Union police agency Europol warned Monday.”

While we must take the threat seriously, why do reports keep using such an ignorant description of their intended actions?

What does that term even mean to them? Have you seen the ISIS training videos? They are certainly special, but not in the way that Europol is portraying them.

Using terms like “special forces-style” certainly give the threat some credibility on the surface, but for anyone who stops and thinks about it, they’d soon realize that these threats are just more of the same. We should be vigilant, on the lookout for ISIS threats, but that does not mean we have to fall prey to fears of some “special” type of attack.

In a similar manner, the media throws around the term “assault rifle” without having a clue how to define what that actually entails. Special forces-style attack? You mean they intend to sloppily storm a location and catch people by surprise? Thanks, media, for letting us know that is how they operate. We sort of already knew.

Such careless use of terminology by the media is only bolstering the image of ISIS, while making civilians fear the worst is coming.