There’s a lot to agree and disagree with in the essay “The Age of Horrorism” by author Martin Amis that appeared in the Observer last week. His contention that Western liberalism is in denial about the “Islamacist cult of death” is a bit hard to swallow, especially his complete discounting of the horrible economic and social conditions many of the Jihadists grow up in being a factor. He tends to place the blame completely on the Imperial ambitions of Islam, dreams of the caliphate, etc. However, when he takes aim at the crippling effect of sexism in Islam – “The connection between manifest failure and the suppression of women is unignorable.”, and his rationale that the United States “walked into a trap” when it invaded Iraq – his essay soars. One of the most eloquent things I’ve read about terrorism in a long time, even if I disagree with much of what he has to say.
Definitely worth the 30-40 minutes you’ll spend plowing through it.
Part One Part Two Part Three