[throwawayboise]

There's a tendency with people in authority to want to be seen as engaged and acting responsibly, so they "do something" such as take a half step towards the more extreme response, even if rationally the half-step does nothing.

Or such is my observation.

[nitwit005]

Yep. Something must be done, so they do something.

People often do seem much happier when some action is taken, even if they know it's meaningless, so it's not exactly an irrational response on the part of the leadership.

[seriousquestion]

That's part of it. Another is that they tend to have authoritarian tendencies.