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Is this even the right question to be asking? What is meant by 'Muslim extremism'? It is a catchy phrase, but undefined. Is 'Muslim extremism' even one thing, or a convenient label for a whole host of miscellaneous acts?

That then even begs the question, 'What is a Muslim?' In theory a Muslim is anyone who has declared their Faith in Allah. However, there are different creeds including Shiite, Sunni and Ismaili with many subtle shades. There are certainly significant differences in observance of the acts of faith.

With over one billion adherents worldwide, grouping all Muslims under one label is an extreme generalization, and one that is extremely dangerous in this context. Even without reading the whole of the teachings of Islam, I can am reasonably sure that the faith does not support, and certainly does not require, acts of terrorism. Other terrorists are not Muslims. We therefore need to break the association of the two terms.

The acts that are implied in the question are acts of terrorism. The question could be rephrased, Have recent acts of terrorism damaged world tourism irrevocably?'

The acts of terrorism are complete, finished, done. It is not the acts then that continue to damage anything. We should therefore adjust the question again to something like, 'Has the reaction to recent acts of terrorism damaged world tourism irrevocably?'

Perhaps the damage' that is being referred to is the inconvenience caused by additional security measures; longer queues at airports, the introduction of biometric data and all the other measures that our guardians have introduced to keep us safer or feeling safer.

I believe we should be asking, Have recent acts of terrorism damaged our sense of security irrevocably?' I am then sure the answer is yes. My delayed reaction to 9/11 was that those affected were in their place of work. Whereas we might have expected acts of terrorism with tourist and transport sites before, now we could no longer feel safe earning our daily bread.

Despite the shock of such events, it is still important to keep things in perspective. New York and other cities have continued and, for most of us, the horror has faded. The point I want to make is that unless we ask the right questions we are likely to lead ourselves astray with the answers. That will lead to feelings and reactions that are inappropriate. Often these make the situation worse not better. If we could understand exactly who it is that has damaged us, and

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