ISIS cannot kill all of us – keeping up with traffic related deaths would pose a serious logistical challenge for them. ISIS doesn’t even want to kill all of us. ISIS wants to make our lives miserable – we should not allow them to.

ISIS wants us to stop having fun – we cannot stop going to concerts or football games.

ISIS wants to make it impossible for millions of people to flee from their „caliphate“ by spreading doubt in supportive nations – we must not be quiet when politicians question the right for asylum or insinuate that refugees pose a serious thread to security.

ISIS wants us to horse trade actual freedom for a pretense of security – we cannot allow our parliaments and elected leaders to limit judicial oversight or to lock down open borders.

ISIS wants us to believe the same Orient vs Occident narrative that right-wing populists and extremists in Europe are trying to draw – we cannot forget that ISIS killed 43 people in Beirut just one day before the attacks in Paris and hundreds more before that in other places around the region.

ISIS has very limited power over our lives. Politicians, the media and ourselves have power. Whether we use this power to advance ISIS‘ cause is our own decision. Looking at mainstream media, Beirut is all but forgotten. On Friday we will find out how long Schengen will hold up. 

[Update: DE – NL football game cancelled]