The Real Story

[poliphilo]

So now the BBC is giving us a history of the War on Terror. It begins in 1945- with a guy called Strauss who was the guru of the neo-cons and a guy called Qutub who decided that the Islamic nations needed to be rescued from the corruption of Truman's America.

Strauss and Qutub were ideological twins- puritans, at war with the liberal individualism. Strauss reckoned that a nation could only save its soul if it rallied to church and flag- and it could only be trusted to do that if it had an ENEMY.

The Soviet Empire was a dandy enemy. When it collapsed (having proved itself a lot less dandy than the neo-cons argued) a new Enemy had to be found. And there was Bin Laden just raring to step into Brezhnev's shoes.

The story of the past half century is the story of a struggle between liberalism and puritanism. Everything else- however epic- has been a distraction- a sleight of hand designed to take our gaze away from what was really going on.

Comments

[ibid.livejournal.com]

being sold a pup! Never heard that one before.

I think Islamic terrorism is more of a threat but the exaggeration terrifies me. I was on my knees in prais When Rumsfeld admitted Iraq had no links with al-qaida. But then I am afraid of a 1984 situation where the press (darling Rupert!) and people's memories conveneintly overlook earlier claims.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't know where the pup thing comes from. It's an odd metaphor. After all, who wouldn't want to be sold a squirmy, huggable, big-eyed ball of fluff?