>That said, reprisals are a terrible idea.
Who needs reprisals? They're stuck in North Korea. What could be worse? The Dear Leader is a bat-shit crazy reincarnation of Stalin. Half the country is starving to death. Even if your are relatively well off, you could be taken out and shot any minute, and every known relative of yours hauled off to a camp for generations.
>What makes horses simple and zebras complex?
Depends on where you are. If you're in Nevada, horses are the simple explanation. If you're in Kenya, zebra's are the simple answer. Without adequate location data, neither is simpler than the other, since both exist.
Always draw your curves, then plot your reading.