Tuesday, October 14, 2003
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
Terror and Liberalism by Paul Berman. I have to warn those of a conservative bent that Berman, a self-described social-democrat, is no fan of the Bush administration but his book is a lucid explanation of the twentieth century totalitarian roots of Islamist terror and the intellectual cowardice of much of the Left in facing up to the challenge of Islamism.
My primary criticism is that while Berman has correctly identified the centrality of nihilism in Islamism and traced the antiwar Left back to the antiwar segment of the Old Left of the 1930's who opposed getting tough with Hitler and Mussolini, Berman fails to identify the inherent nihilism that drives the antiwar position to fight anti-Terror measures and policies.
A concise argument worth reading. ¶ 9:48 AM
Terror and Liberalism by Paul Berman. I have to warn those of a conservative bent that Berman, a self-described social-democrat, is no fan of the Bush administration but his book is a lucid explanation of the twentieth century totalitarian roots of Islamist terror and the intellectual cowardice of much of the Left in facing up to the challenge of Islamism.
My primary criticism is that while Berman has correctly identified the centrality of nihilism in Islamism and traced the antiwar Left back to the antiwar segment of the Old Left of the 1930's who opposed getting tough with Hitler and Mussolini, Berman fails to identify the inherent nihilism that drives the antiwar position to fight anti-Terror measures and policies.
A concise argument worth reading. ¶ 9:48 AM
