Re: “ISIS has nothing to do with Islam”.
This is fair, but the latter is politically more relevant than the former which may be pedantically true, but the connotations for the purpose of this discussion is that ISIS is a valid Islamic actor, and so can be used in some sense as representative of the political inclinations or aspirations of religious minded Muslims. So, by negating the former (it has something to do with Islam), I think it’s a very cowardly way of negating the latter.
You are right about lack of PR. But given that the prime victims of ISIS are other Muslims, I’d suggest it takes serious gall to suggest somehow *we *have to explain ourselves. I’m more concerned by why ISIS is being allowed to succeed by Muslim states in the region.