14 Nov Paris

A wise friend wondered on Facebook whether it was prudent for President François Hollande to visit the Bataclan concert hall so soon after the shooting stopped. It’s good he went. The sooner people behave normally after an attack like this, the better.

The threat was almost certainly over once the shooting stopped. Usually, in the hours, days, and weeks afterwards, we pretend we are in much greater danger than we are. The strange modern compulsion to form an empathetic connection with ghastly news events swings into action. We wring our hands and declare, “Everything has changed.” We cede yet more power to every police force everywhere.

HRM police officials will now consider themselves vindicated in their decision to deploy snipers and military-clad officers toting battlefield weapons at Remembrance Day services. They are not vindicated. It was a repulsive way for a civic police force to behave.

Such reactions to violence do not make us stronger. They make us weaker. They are what terrorists hope for.

Time was democrats knew a better way to respond to organized violence: