By Situation Theatre 30/11/2015

Fed up of the misuse of the word “terrorism” by the world’s media, editors at the Oxford Dictionary have cracked the shits and taken a stand in the latest edition.

The previous edition defined terrorism as “the use of violent action in order to achieve political aims or to force a government to act”.

Chief Editor of the Oxford Dictionary, John Simpson, said “Newspaper editors across the world add the phrase “by people who look like Muslims” to the definition. That’s not ok. It’s not ok linguistically and it sure as hell isn’t ok ethically or politically.”

To counteract this journalistic malpractice, Simpson says "We've decided on a more accurate definition of terrorism as used in the world today - “double standard”. Given that a double standard is “a rule or moral principle that is unfair because it is used in one situation, but not in another, or because it treats one group of people in a way that is different from the treatment of another”, we think it's the perfect definition of terrorism."

Following countless acts of violence when Islamic terrorists are called "terrorists" and white terrorists are called "lone wolfs", "psychopaths" and "mass murderers", the Oxford Dictionary hopes the new definition will help journalists do their jobs.