Thursday, January 27, 2005
Manifestos Ignored
In a very interesting piece called "Religous War: East and West", the Belmont Club blog looks into the two prevailing schools of thought on the nature of the conflict we are in. He links to a diplomatic underground blogger who indentifies these schools as the "Muslim Rage School" and the "Clash of Civilizations School." And even though Zarqawi is unequivocally in the second category, and is telegraphing his membership in it, a noisy claque of fantasists in the west ignores his broadcast manifesto and insists on putting him in the first. The risks inherent in indulging the Muslim Rage school, at the expense of the insight provided by the Clash of Civilizations, are huge.
Those who have read Lee Harris' excellent book, Civilization and Its Enemies, will recognize the reference to fantasists and fantasy ideology. Harris' book was derived from his 2002 essay in Policy Review, which is linked in this Belmont piece.
This is another first-rate contribution, with many interesting links, from wretchard at The Belmont Club.
Those who have read Lee Harris' excellent book, Civilization and Its Enemies, will recognize the reference to fantasists and fantasy ideology. Harris' book was derived from his 2002 essay in Policy Review, which is linked in this Belmont piece.
This is another first-rate contribution, with many interesting links, from wretchard at The Belmont Club.
# posted by mds : 8:37 AM
