Cost of terror

The tragic events in Paris last Friday have left Europe reeling. Politicians have been clamoring to denounce the atrocity and by chance announce their latest round of measures to tackle any such threat in the future.
Social media has been inundated with people declaring their solidarity with the French. Others though have criticised the outpouring of emotion as a colonial attitude which should have been just as strong when a suicide bomber in Beirut murdered more than 40 people, or Islamic State allegedly brought down a passenger jet leaving Sharm el-Sheik.
Why have people not been so quick to share their sympathy? Of course there is the sad fact that many people do only care about things which happen on their doorstep . They know where France is and therefore it means more to them  This is not the reason for so much emotion over one event and not the other. The sad fact is that a suicide bomber in Beirut or a passenger jet being blown out of the sky aren’t shocking any more. We have become inculcated against the emotion response that they should engender.
This is a terrible fact to acknowledge and it has even more terrible consequences. As we become more used to a wider variety of terrorist actions then the terrorists will have to start becoming even more extreme if they want to maintain the same level of fear among the population.
Terrorism isn’t new. It isn’t about religion, ideology, politics, hate, or any of the multitude of different reasons which are trotted out. It has little to do with an influx of refugees, aside from acknowledging that these are the same people they are fleeing from. It is down to individuals. Individuals who believe that they are somehow better than other people. They may use religion as an excuse  it Islam has as little to do with IS as Christianity does with the Klu Klux Klan.
Terrorists have been around for hundreds of years and over that time their actions have evolved as people become less affected by what they see and hear. Their objective rarely shifts though and it is this which really should cause the fear.
Even in their deluded minds IS members probably do not imagine that they will be parading down the mall as part of the conquering army. If they are to bring down governments then they will do it be crippling the economy.
The bombing of the Russian airliner has already started a chain reaction which will see holiday resorts lose millions as tourists stay away for the time being. The attacks in Paris merely highlight to potential holidaymakers that they aren't safe anywhere and would be better of staying at home.
The full impact this will have on trade and currency is yet to be realised, however, the markets are already seeing the affect as stocks drop in value.
Meanwhile governments, already suffering from economic woes and looking to make cuts, are forced to expend more money than budgeted on increasing security, even though they know that this is mostly for perception rather than practical reasons.
Terrorism is a criminal rather than military action. To call then soldiers or declare war against them elevates them in people’s minds and increases the threat. They are murderers and thieves. If viewed as this then their impact starts to be diminished. Their effect on the economy minimised. It is only when we allow the fear they want to spread that they can harm us. Their greatest fear is that we unite, not just French and English, European and American but everyone, Syrian, Iraqi, Russian. We need to work together to create a strong global economy and remove their only hope of ever achieving close to their ambitions.