The point of terrorism is to provoke a reaction. To quote the German RAF terrorist Ulrike Meinhof on the subject: &quot;A war 6 against 60 million can not be won. All we [the terrorist] can do, is to tear down the mask of democracy and expose the fascist face of the state.&quot; So what is damaging is not the terror itself, what damages the social fabric is the overreaction. Terrorists should just be tried like other criminals, not given the reaction they want.