I have been there, on New Years, on Bourbon St.  It was a rousing time, and the sense ofnonymity lent a particularly unique feeling of freedom. The events this year, however, altered the significance of that sense of anonymity. 

Everyone is a target.

When I sit in the shelter with my Arab neighbors I used to think – well, they are collaborators so there is some “justification” for them to be targeted like me. But we have to accept the fact that the innocent people who are killed in attacks like that are not just collateral damage – chaos is the goal – the overturning of civilized society. For the extremists at least.