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My latest post at The Compass is a response to Ayaan Hirsi Ali:
We cannot understand the world without understanding that culture is just one among many motivations, and that in a global economy, factions and individuals push for the goals of commerce and liberal democracy against the short-sighted aims of the warrior-state. But individuals, nearly all of them motivated by self-preservation, have far less force and will than nation-states, and Huntington’s thesis predicted a specific kind of clash occurring at a much larger level, involving unified groups of nation-states, and begetting a specific kind of conflict – one that has not occurred.
Are there cultural clashes going on in the world today? Yes, absolutely, and particularly on the individual and factional level. Perhaps this serves as a motivation for accepting Huntington’s brand of false homogeneity, which promises simplicity and anecdote instead of complexity and data. Yet considering his predictions are undercut both by history and by the lessons of the present day, let’s agree that we’d be better off examining the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.
Read more critiques from Ali’s colleagues here. While I respect her greatly as an author, there’s more complexity here than just a monolithic Islamic civilization. I’ll have more on this next week with a thought provoking podcast with Lee Smith, author of The Strong Horse.
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