The attacks in Paris are being described, as almost all terror attacks invariably are, as senseless violence. It is very easy to do so. Scores of people died in an event that we can neither condone nor easily grasp.
But calling it mere "senseless violence" ignores the reality that the Islamic State (IS) had a reason to do it. The next easiest step would be to default to some empty truism as an explanation. “They hate us for our freedoms.” “Radical Islam is at war with the West.” These imply that we cannot truly understand their motivations and that they are simply powered by Pure Evil.
Yet however foreign their ideology and motivations, they exist and denying them means we play right into their hands. What do they have to gain from attacking the cities and planes of nations not fully committed to war against them?
In part, it was likely to draw France or her allies into a war. The Islamic State’s ideology holds that the apocalypse will come when the armies of Rome arrive in Syria, and if “Rome” means “Western Europe” attacking France is as good a way as any to bring about the endgame.
On a more practical level, recent attacks also make it likely that the West and Russia will lash out with greater ferocity. This will allow IS to spread the narrative that Muslims are being persecuted worldwide and the only way to stand up to them is to join radical organizations. It also makes it likely that their enemies will make strategic mistakes while acting in fear.
There is a long history of such mistakes. World War I was a reaction to a terrorist attack. More recently the United States has spent more than a decade and 1.7 trillion dollars in order to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians in an unwinnable war.
We compromised our Constitution’s ideals by operating torture sites centuries after Napoleon knew it did not work. Even a former prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay says torture is ineffective. We created a security state that will never go away and does not make us safer. We entrust our safety to the TSA, an organization that engages in systemic racial profiling and discrimination against transgender people. Yet there is no evidence of it stopping a single terrorist attack and their own audit showed it to be incompetent.
A friend of mine commented that “If [IS] was behind this attack, everything is going perfectly according to plan.” I can’t disagree with them. We’re hyper-focusing upon a single attack and viewing it as not just a tragedy, but a tragedy about which we must do something. And in our haste and rage and fear we will likely make mistakes that cost us more dearly than the attack itself. We could begin new, ill-advised wars or restrict the safety and freedoms of Muslims so white Christians with tri-color Facebook photos can feel safer. Both will make IS, or whatever group takes their place, stronger.
By all means, pray for Paris. But by doing something more than praying, we risk compounding the tragedy.