We live in a society in which we are told from birth to be careful with our words and sensitive to other’s feelings. Never ostracize another group; never allow anyone to feel like an outsider.

This bend-over-backward-to-be-nice culture may be beneficial in an environment with a civil exchange of ideas such as academia. In a time of war, however, it can be downright dangerous.

Perhaps this is the reason most Americans have absolutely no idea that there are 30,000 to 50,000 militants dedicated to exterminating them. They have no clue that the geographical area this enemy controls is larger than that of the United Kingdom. The average American wouldn’t even imagine that these extremists have killed thousands and continue to burn, rape, and murder anyone in their path.

That’s because our leaders have gone to excruciating lengths to vehemently mischaracterize and underplay this threat. After all, telling it like it is may invoke certain religious groups and offend some people.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last year, almost every week news emerges of a new atrocity committed by the group ISIS. Its ultimate goal is to establish an all-Muslim state worldwide under strict jihadist rule. The name of their game is “convert or die.” Just this month, a Jordanian pilot was burned alive in a cage, 45 Iraqis were burned to death in al-Baghdadi, and 21 Coptic Christians were beheaded on tape. ISIS is expanding and has now set its sights on Rome.

Because President Obama fears offending people, his administration downplays ISIS and its link to Islam.

In an op-ed piece in the LA Times, Obama wrote about “our fight against violent extremism.” The refusal to call them Islamic terrorists shows that our president prioritizes political correctness over telling Americans the true story. For crying out loud, the group’s name is “Islamic State.” Isn’t that relevant?

Of course, overwhelmingly, Muslims are not only peaceful, they are themselves being terrorized by these monsters. Instead of recognizing the scope of this, Obama seems to go to great lengths to nearly justify their actions. When speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, he remarked “during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ … so this is not unique to one group or one religion.” But these events happened 500 to 1,000 years ago. Islamic extremists nowadays cause the overwhelming majority of terrorism.

When ISIS-inspired terrorists attacked a Jewish deli in Paris, Obama called them a bunch of “zealots” who “randomly” attacked a “bunch of folks.” Again, it was as if the religious context was deliberately withheld for the sake of his ideology.

Marie Harf of the State Department of said, “We need to find them jobs … what makes these 17 year-old kids pick up an AK-47 instead of starting a business?” Right — because with millions of Americans unemployed we should be finding jobs for radical Islamic militants, and if only they had access to an entrepreneurship course, they would put down their weapons. Sadly, this was not the punchline of a Super Bowl commercial; we live in a world that has quite frankly gone mad.

These “fumbles” in communication are the reason that most Americans are unaware of the threat they are facing. We cannot continue this game of political correctness in the face of such evil. It was Europe’s refusal to acknowledge Hitler’s threat during the run-up to World War II that led to his dominance. We cannot let this happen again.