I’ve always thought that these people don’t have clear and coherent theories of the political change they want. To my mind it seems more like they are just really bored or disappointed with their lives and long for the adventure and thrill of revolution. I wonder, why are they so unhappy?
Ultimately, they need real religion instead of adopting messianic ideology in its place. Even if Israel, America, and the entire West were to collapse tomorrow, they'd still be unhappy, because their deepest problem is within.
I think Eric Hoffer has done the best work on this and to summarize his thesis: the Western adversary intellectual despises liberal democracy and capitalism because it wounds his/her amour-propre, as they are valued much less in our societies than they believe they deserve. They spend their lives in the library and being good at school and imagine themselves preparing for the role of philosopher-king or at least of respected sage, only to see businessmen and bankers much wealthier and respected and generals much more glorified. This wounds them to the core and makes them swear holy war against liberal democracy (despite them still leading pretty nice state-subsidized lives), and to pursue the same goals as their patron saint and hater extraordinaire, Karl Marx, who believed that “Everything that exists deserves to perish.”
This also explains the love Western intellectuals had for the Soviets and other Marxist dictatorships. Those countries might have been failed police states, but they took ideas seriously and lauded their intellectuals (at least the ones that formulated and enforced the Party line). Thus the Western intellectual gazed across the Iron Curtain with envy—a society where they get to tell everyone what to think, do, say and believe is their real goal and heart's desire.
It's mind boggling that it never occurs to the "pro-pals" that people who seek to turn Israel into a nuclear wasteland are obviously not trying to "liberate" land.
I’ve always thought that these people don’t have clear and coherent theories of the political change they want. To my mind it seems more like they are just really bored or disappointed with their lives and long for the adventure and thrill of revolution. I wonder, why are they so unhappy?
Ultimately, they need real religion instead of adopting messianic ideology in its place. Even if Israel, America, and the entire West were to collapse tomorrow, they'd still be unhappy, because their deepest problem is within.
I think Eric Hoffer has done the best work on this and to summarize his thesis: the Western adversary intellectual despises liberal democracy and capitalism because it wounds his/her amour-propre, as they are valued much less in our societies than they believe they deserve. They spend their lives in the library and being good at school and imagine themselves preparing for the role of philosopher-king or at least of respected sage, only to see businessmen and bankers much wealthier and respected and generals much more glorified. This wounds them to the core and makes them swear holy war against liberal democracy (despite them still leading pretty nice state-subsidized lives), and to pursue the same goals as their patron saint and hater extraordinaire, Karl Marx, who believed that “Everything that exists deserves to perish.”
This also explains the love Western intellectuals had for the Soviets and other Marxist dictatorships. Those countries might have been failed police states, but they took ideas seriously and lauded their intellectuals (at least the ones that formulated and enforced the Party line). Thus the Western intellectual gazed across the Iron Curtain with envy—a society where they get to tell everyone what to think, do, say and believe is their real goal and heart's desire.
It's mind boggling that it never occurs to the "pro-pals" that people who seek to turn Israel into a nuclear wasteland are obviously not trying to "liberate" land.