[lbo-talk] Rationality of the Masses

[Jeffrey Fisher]

On 6/10/05, Dennis Redmond <dredmond at efn.org> wrote:
> Michael Pollak wrote:
> 
> > The result was that during the important 19C, when the mass
> > transition to secularism began to take place in Europe, it didn't happen
> > here to the same degree, not because Americans were stupider, but because
> > religion was a lot more fun.
> 
> The big divergence between the US vs. the other industrial countries takes
> place in the late 20th century, though.

but why should that mean that its root cause is in the 20th century?
what michael is saying about individualism and choice in american
religion seens pretty sensible to me, and it sets up conditions for
responses and adaptations that are different.

i don't know what sent europe into atheism (and if we think the cause
is in the 20th C, then it isn't darwin). surely WWI has a lot to do
with european atheism, no? vietnam is the US analog to WWI for europe?
or is that just way off?


> 
> My own theory is that petro-fundamentalism is the US Empire's second
> childhood.
> 

how does this address michael's argument?

j

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