Ana’s Reviews > The Apocalypse and the End of History: Modern Jihad and the Crisis of Liberalism > Status Update

'Faced with forces beyond one's control—or even comprehension—conspiracy theories offer a (false) sense of reassurance that someone is in charge of this mess.'

'The delusional is quickly becoming the twenty-first century's dominant political mode. The material world is no longer determinative or even malleable, as was the case with twentieth-century fascists who believed they could bend reality in accordance to their will. It is irrelevant.'

'"Fascism sees its salvation in giving these masses not their right, but instead a chance to express themselves," Walter Benjamin observed in 1936. That is to say, spectacle is part and parcel of the aestheticization of politics whose chief "virtue" is offering the masses a sense of excitement and purpose while preserving the underlying power structures that oppress them.'

'With the ascendance of VR and social media, and the attendant ways to increasingly live life online, this sensory confusion has become part of our everyday experience.'

'As critics of America's endless wars have noted, the issue of body counts raises the question as to whose bodies count; the careful tallying of "our" losses stands in stark contrast to the imprecise figures—the very conservative estimate is between 244,124 and 266,427 civilians killed as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—that characterize "their" deaths.'

'In truth, Americans stunned by the nature of al-Qaeda's attacks had more analytic resources at their disposal than they realized. They just weren't prone to looking for answers at home, which would threaten the integrity of narratives built on the idea of jihad as wholly foreign and exotic.'

'In short, if we consider the morality apparatus that the Caliphate developed to regulate social life and punish offenders, it is the modern police state that springs to mind as the closest living relative.'

'(Nearly everyone is a moderate in their own eyes.)'

a bookmark for the weekend. Wondering honestly to myself if this is the perfect book for our times.