The terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is causing collateral damage beyond the Middle East, as some nonprofits, think tanks and companies throughout the U.S. and world awkwardly share the now infamous ISIS initials.
Groups such as the International Species Information System, the Institute for Science and International Security, the Institute of Science in Society — all of which use the shorthand “ISIS” — as well as companies like Isis Pharmaceuticals and ISIS Papyrus, have been forced to face the unpleasant coincidence, with others going so far as to change their name to avoid confusion with the terrorist outfit.
David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security, or ISIS — a Washington think tank that deals with policy issues affecting international security — said the situation has been a minor inconvenience and that his primary concern was that confusion over the name could put his staff in harm’s way.
“That’s the biggest risk to me. It goes way beyond any cost analysis,’ he said. It was about “is there a risk that any staff member would be beat up or would someone storm into our office because they see the ISIS acronym on our door and start hitting people?”
No such attacks have occurred, he said.
Albright said he is frustrated that media organizations, particularly TV networks, insist on calling the terrorist group “ISIS” and not one of the myriad of other names it’s known by. The Obama administration typically refers to the group as “ISIL,” short for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, while many media outlets, including the Washington Examiner, prefer “Islamic State.”
Secretary of State John Kerry recently has called the group by the Arabic term “Daesh,” a name it considers so degrading that it has threatened to kill anyone who uses it.
“It’s frustrating that [ISIS] is still commonly used in the media, but we had to get over it — we had to move on,” Albright said.
Albright said his group, which has been around for about 20 years, has decided against changing its name, though it has de-emphasized the ISIS acronym in favor of using the organization’s full name.
“It’s part of our email address. We’d have to change a lot of things,” he said. “We just can’t change the name of every [website] file — then you’ve destroyed your links to the rest of the world if you do that. The ISIS [name for us] will always be there, so we just decided it’s not worth changing.”
Nate Flesness, science director of International Species Information System, or ISIS, said his Minnesota nonprofit, which assists hundreds of zoos and aquariums worldwide, also has had to put up with “some mild annoyances.” But he said the hassle has been “trivial compared with the people dealing with the real ISIS.”
“We haven’t had anything serious [happen] as of yet,” he said. “Our impacts have been pretty minor so far.”
Among the strangest side effects of sharing the ISIS name, Flesness said, was getting an email from someone seeking to join the terrorist group.
“I can’t tell if it was a spoof or for real but they didn’t do too much homework because on our website it shows lots of things about animals and zoos,” he said.
Flesness also said he has no intention of changing his group’s name.
“We’ve obviously been rooting for people to call it by the other one, ISIL, but that hasn’t been gaining that much traction in the press,” he said.
Isis Pharmaceuticals also has said it will keep its name.
Amy Blackley, associate director of corporate communications for Isis Pharmaceuticals, however, told San Diego Public Broadcasting station KPBS last year she has been answering the phone differently.
“It used to be ‘Hi, this is Amy from Isis,'” she said. But now its “Hi, this is Amy from Isis Pharmaceuticals.”
That’s not the path all ISIS-named organizations have taken.
A smartphone wallet app formerly called Isis rebranded itself last year as “Softcard” to avoid any confusion with the Islamic State.
“However coincidental, we have no desire to share a name with this group and our hearts go out to those affected by this violence,” said company Chief Executive Michael Abbott in July when announcing the name change.
The Isis Group, an Australian organization that focuses on international development issues and corporate advisory services, scrapped its 16-year-old name last year and rebranded itself as the Adara Group.
“World events have overtaken us and the world has changed, so we know we need to change with it,” said group founder and Chairwoman Audette Exel in November announcing the change.
The name Isis can be traced back to ancient Egypt, where a goddess of motherhood and fertility was given the name. Her popularity later spread throughout the greater Greco-Roman world. And while Isis — also a patroness of nature and magic — was said to be friendly to common people, including slaves and the poor, she also was revered among the wealthy and ruling class.
The Isis name also has been highlighted frequently in pop culture. Several musical bands worldwide have performed under the moniker, while Bob Dylan included a song called “Isis” on his 1975 album “Desire.”
A short-lived 1970s Saturday morning children show called “Isis” — later called “The Secrets of Isis” — depicted a female superhero who transformed herself into the Egyptian goddess to fight injustice.
And it is the name of one of the dogs on the popular PBS show “Downton Abbey.”
Isis also is a popular female name in Africa and elsewhere.
Albright said the media’s continued use of the term ISIS in reference to the terrorist group is “destructive” to women and especially girls named Isis.
“Do you change the name of your daughter when she’s 5 or 8? Or 40?” he said.
“We’re not judging people for whatever they call it. But we’re asking for some compassion. Not for us. But for the kids and some of the companies, it’s a lot harder to change their names.”
