The recent attack in Nice, together with the numerous instances of jihadist bloodshed in the previous weeks, suggests terrorists now feel a need to outdo each other with ever more horrifying acts of violence. Max Boot explains, while cautioning against succumbing to hysteria.
Unfortunately, the more people that terrorists kill, the more the public becomes desensitized to the killing—especially in countries such as Iraq that have witnessed so much carnage in recent years. As a result, terrorists have to kill even more in the future—or kill in more gruesome ways, as Islamic State (IS) does with televised beheadings and burnings—to achieve the shock factor they seek.
This should make us very concerned about the future. IS has already used chemical weapons. If it, or another terrorist group, can get its hands on other weapons of mass destruction—biological or nuclear—it will surely use them with no compunctions. All restraints about mass murder are being abandoned.
That should not make us in the West abandon all of our own restraints. We cannot give in to the voices of hysteria. . . . Yes, most of today’s terrorists are Muslims—but so are most of the victims of terrorist attacks.
Read more on Commentary: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/terrorism/nice-world-numbed-to-mass-murder/