Deep Resentment and the Appeal of Islam

When any high-profile murder takes place in the West, someone in high authority is bound nowadays to say something like All our thoughts are with the victims (or the relatives of the victims). This, of course, is a lie, and by no means a noble one: all the high authority’s thoughts ought not to be with the victims or with the relatives of the victims. The authority ought rather to be thinking of whether there are means to prevent similar attacks in the future. It is perfectly possible to express decent condolences without resort to obvious and insincere exaggeration.

The French government minister with responsibility for the police resorted to the hackneyed all-our-thoughts formula when speaking to the National Assembly immediately after the murder of four people, and the attempted murder of a fifth, in the police headquarters of Paris recently. But at least there were no teddy bears or candles placed on the pavement outside the site of the murders, which is what would…