Story highlights Carolyn Williams-Gerdes: Words matter not just to legitimate heads of peaceful states, but to malevolent foreign actors

Germany should not turn its back on the spirit with which it opened its doors to those genuinely seeking refuge, she says

Carolyn Williams-Gerdes is a writer and communications strategist based in Berlin. The views expressed are her own.

(CNN) A day after truck plowed through a Christmas market in one of Berlin's busiest shopping areas, killing 12 people, no one is disputing that it was a deliberate act. Yet German authorities initially appeared reluctant to describe the incident as an act of terrorism.

Carolyn Williams-Gerdes

Attempting to explain the reluctance to the media over using the word "attack," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere noted the "psychological effect" that words can have. And it is true that some words are fiercely evocative -- even as we struggle to define them.

Just what, for example, is terrorism? What distinguishes a terrorist from any other violent criminal? The word "terror" arguably speaks less of the act than it does of the emotions it elicits. "I feel terrified and, therefore, the act was one of terror."

One thing, though, has been made clear time and again: an unfortunate consequence of citing terrorism is that it confirms the gravity of the act and, by extension, acknowledges the success of the perpetrator. After all, the reach of a terrorist extends beyond immediate physical harm, creating emotional societal wounds that may be both more numerous and enduring than other violent acts.

So-called terrorists are not the only ones to benefit from the psychological effects of the term. The rapid and chaotic arrival of nearly 1 million refugees to Germany in 2015 and 2016 -- and the suggestion by some that these groups are riddled with potential terrorists -- has transformed political discourse and drawn once-fringe groups into the mainstream.

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