Folly, thou conquerest, and I must yield!
Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain. Exalted reason,
Resplendent daughter of the head divine,
Wise foundress of the system of the world,
Guide of the stars, who art thou then if thou,
Bound to the tail of folly's uncurbed steed,
Must, vainly shrieking with the drunken crowd,
Eyes open, plunge down headlong in the abyss.
Accursed, who striveth after noble ends,
And with deliberate wisdom forms his plans!
To the fool-king belongs the world.
— Friedrich Schiller, Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maid of Orleans)
Why do terrorists do what they do?
Because they hate us? Well, let’s take that for granted, but the truth is that the people Muslim terrorists hate most of all are their fellow Muslims. So what does the tactic of terrorism furnish them? What practical advantage?
It can be nothing but our entirely predictable response; and that this response in the past has in no way discouraged them shows that must be the case. They want us to react out of fear, anger, vanity and most of all hatred; they thrive on our hatred, so long as it is indiscriminate. Blind, reflexive hatred falls on their bitter enemies as well as themselves. History proves that.
When we feel the most vulnerable is when we need our reason, discernment and self-control the most, yet it is also when these powers are most apt to desert us. But perhaps in time we will learn not to give them what they so clearly desire from us.