After the atrocity, the agonizing. How could someone do such a thing? Is our foreign policy to blame? Why don’t moderate Muslims condemn terrorism? Why don’t they report suspicious behavior? Do we need to change our immigration policy? Are we unprepared for the next attack?

These questions are a form of displacement activity, a way of not thinking too hard about the horror. Just try to hold in your mind what happened. A room full of teenage and pre-teen girls, girls who have spent months waiting for that evening, Snapchatting each other, planning what they’re going to wear, girls who had skipped happily away from their parents, full of expectation, only to end the night maimed, lacerated or dead.