Actually we do need to understand them better. We need to understand that they want everyone in the world either dead or forcibly converted to Islam. If we really understood that, we'd be able to deal with them more realistically.
I think most of us understand that part perfectly. It is when people keep trying this toiuchy feely thing with Muslims my blood pressure goes up. Not a day has gone by that a non Muslim, somewhere in the world, is killed by a Muslim.