The more frightful ISIS is, the more “tolerant” Western intellectuals become.

To the Most Terrible goes the allegiance of the crowd. ISIS knows this, according to some analysts, and is therefore pursuing “strategy of social control … designed to frighten an audience into submission”. Just how well it works is demonstrated by the reluctance of Western intellectuals to say anything that might provoke or anger Islamic radicals even to the point of not drawing cartoons. While they explain their delicacy away as the consequence of high-minded enlightenment, were they more candid they would admit the real reason was fear. The more frightful ISIS is, the more “tolerant” Western intellectuals become.