From one reader:

Our great nation faces grave peril from an AXIS OF BAD
ANALOGIES! It’s 1938 all over again! If we do not
spray the hornets OVER THERE, they’ll sting us OVER
HERE! Gaaaaaaaah!!!
(Dear Jonah, not every threat to our national security
can be compared to killer Nazi bees with giant
swastika-shaped stingers. Some of them are, well,
more like a whole bunch of revolutionary movements in
the past that draw their strength from a collective
victim status that is reinforced by poking them
clumsily with sticks. Just a helpful hint from the
folks who were right about the Iraq War in the first place.)

And another:

The only problem with your analogy is that you don’t create more hornets
when you destroy the hornets’ nest.

Me: I agree entirely with emailer number 2. As for emailer number one, I agree there’s an anaology overload problem — indeed, I wrote as much here – but my only point was that threats often grow more dangerous when you confront them. A wounded bear is more dangerous because he’s wounded. A cornered animal is …. oh you get it.