Utopia

The Left would argue that it is adamantly against Islamist thought, that organizations like al Qaeda or ISIS are antithetical to the modern world. But at the same time, the Left purports to have an odd "understanding" of the Islamist worldview—suggesting that it knows "what ISIS wants" and/or that the actions of radical islam are driven by "oppression" from the West. I discussed these memes and others in the previous post.

It's interesting that the Left rejects calls for a "war" on Islamists and seems much more comfortable in a world of memes that try to "understand" the motivation of groups like ISIS or al Qaeda. This is particularly fascinating because Islamist beliefs and doctrine are counter to virtually everything in leftist ideology—except one—a utopian world view.

Austin Bay provides an insightful comment:

Like communists [and more broadly, Leftists in general], violent Islamists are peculiar utopians, convinced they create a perfect society that, once created, will remain perfect. Shared utopianism is one reason al-Qaida -- and now ISIL -- find it useful to rework anti-U.S. and anti-democracy communist propaganda tropes. The Guantanamo Bay gnashing and wailing is revised communist Cold War-era agitprop.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Islamists want:

• a world dominated by Islam with Sharia law as it's controlling force
• a population that has been forceably converted to Islam
• a population terrorized to force strict and unquestioning adherence to Sharia
• no religious freedom whatsoever
• no freedom of expression or speech (it's possible that some on the left might like this)
• women as second class citizens
• gay and transgender people either murdered or forced into hiding
• sexual repression overall

Islamists further suggest that if these "wants" are achieved worldwide, a utopian society will emerge, ruled by a global caliphate with absolutely no room for dissenting thought, opinion, or action.

The Left proposes a different utopian view to be sure, but some elements are analogous. Political correctness, climate change, multiculturalism (although each fine in moderation) have taken on strong religious overtones that are dangerous. The Left demands that anyone who does not accept this new religion is a "denier" or a "bigot." Attempts by leftist students at American universities to crush free speech, protect its adherents from the slightest "offense," and intimidate (sometime with threats) others (e.g., university administrators) to tow the ideological line, smacks of totalitarian control whose goal is to create a utopian world.

History indicates that any attempt to create utopia is doomed to precipitate a dystopian society. That's why cults ultimately implode, why communism fails every time it is attempted at a national level, why extreme religious groups might be able to work well in-the-small, but can never work in-the-large. Islamists are outright fanatics who can never learn this lesson. One can only hope that the more rational voices on the Left will come to understand that utopia is a trap, not a goal.