>Rather, it seems to me that the psychology of volunteering and civic
>activism is not so very distant from that of the incendiarist. The same
>narcissistic preoccupation with sacrificing oneself to a 'higher cause'
>informs voluntary work and terror. In both cases the apparently selfless
>act in fact underscores the activist's imagined superiority to the mass.
>
> Khan's uncontrollable display of moral indignation at the war fits the
> profile of the Kierkegaardian "enemy of the people" and his final
> terroristic act. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
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I must missing the nuance, because you do seem to be plainly asserting that
those - and there are many - who participate in their communities are for
the most part arrogant and dangerous narcissists, at one remove from
terrorists. If you are drawing a distinction, I don't see it. What
political conclusions must you arrive at if you accept that the mass of
well-intentioned people mostly produce disasters? Khan's "uncontrollable
display of moral indignation" over Iraq was not, incidentally, the
aberration you suggest but the norm in the rest of the Muslim community and,
as the article reported, went unnoticed for exactly that reason.
MG