This past week witnessed calls from across the political spectrum for politicians, political activists and media personalities in America to tone down their rhetoric and adopt a more respectful attitude to one another in the wake of a deadly shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue that left eleven elderly Jews dead and several more wounded for no reason other than that they were Jews. Pleas for a more respectful and civilized debate were quickly accompanied by demands for tighter gun laws. Both reactions are entirely predictable and understandable – and both miss the mark.