Don't Give In to Terrorists and Demagogues

Open societies are always endangered. This is especially true of America and Europe today, as a result of the terrorist attacks in Paris and elsewhere, and the way that America and Europe, particularly France, have reacted to them.

Jihadi terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaida have discovered the Achilles' heel of our Western societies: the fear of death. Through horrific attacks and macabre videos, the publicists of IS magnify this fear, leading otherwise sensible people in hitherto open societies to abandon their reason.