Those old terrorist tendencies – 19th Century

Valid points, reminder that extremism, terrorism and radicalization have long been with us, with just the particular ‘flavour’ being different:

It helps us understand lone terror improvisers of today to look at their forebears in the mass, as provided by the forgotten history of the 19th century. Certainly, it reminds us that our time is just a great deal less violent. And it suggests that Islam is more or less an excuse, a convenient outlet for revolutionary fervour. But the main lesson we instinctively know already: that the trick is not to let terror take hold of us, to maintain our democratic temperament in the face of what are essentially accidents.

Those old terrorist tendencies.