> What fascinates me is that there seems to be a general collapse of
> actionable Big Ideas worldwide currently. All cant aside, no
> *thinking* person these days honestly views religion as anything but
> an embarrassment to humankind.
We may be experiencing a general collapse of *intellectually respectable* actionable Big Ideas, but there are at least two idiotic Big Ideas that could gain a lot of traction in a crisis: Christofascism and Islamic fundamentalism. Bin Laden was very clear in his recent video that he sees his version of Islamism as a viable alternative to capitalism. Given the relative weakness of the left in the U.S., you can bet that American Christofascists would have a good chance at a power grab in the event capitalism experiences a serious crisis in the near future.
This is why it is so urgent that we built a left cultural, intellectual and social infrastructure that rivals the one the Christofascists have. Because if capitalism does falter in the coming years -- well, we can all look forward to prison or a final nighttime hike into the woods...
-WD
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