But I don’t for the life of me see why Miller and many others, including Coulter, felt the need to construct a bridge from Paris to Mizzou and Yale.

Yes, some American students’ demands for “safe spaces” have gone much too far, endangering free speech and a vital exchange of ideas. Yes, the Yale campus is overwrought (I’ve watched that viral video). And, yes, the insult of certain Halloween costumes pales beside the bloodshed in Paris. Duh.

But there are countless offenses and injustices that pale beside the bloodshed in Paris — what doesn’t? — and there’s absolutely no reason to believe that the people articulating those offenses and injustices would claim otherwise. Using Paris to delegitimize them is puerile. It’s also tasteless, cheapening what happened there.

At this point it’s our ingrained habit to rush with dizzying speed into hyper-political overdrive and treat any shocking new development as fresh fodder for an old argument. That’s what Newt Gingrich did, joining Coulter in crying out for more firearms…