This article by Murtaza Hussain filled in the blanks for me trying to
make sense of what some mistakenly call ”senseless”.
"By launching increasingly shocking attacks against Western targets, the Islamic State is pursuing a specific goal — generating hostility between domestic Muslim populations and the broader societies that they live in."
In the context of this understanding our biggest, loudest, assholes, and their massive followers, are playing right into their hands, not to mention their moral bankruptcy.
theintercept.com/2015/11/17/islamic-states-goal-eliminating-the-grayzone-of-coexistence-between-muslims-and-the-west/