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By the way, one of the products of modernity is disenchantment, and it is not restricted to the irreligious. Even the religious are forced by science and technology into a world that has been largely de- personalized and rendered mechanical. We learn to regard most things as problems to be solved, and are not shy about invasive methods of investigation. We expect most things to yield to our inquiries, and we expect to be capable of manipulating ever larger portions of the material world with our technical skill. Meanwhile, the sacred places and familiar spirits of pre- modern cultures are destroyed or banished. One reason for conspiracy theories is the resistance to understanding human fortune as the result of impersonal forces. Instead, the Zionist Occupation Government, or the Tri-Lateralists are manipulating things against decent people. Besides, if small cabals can have an effect, perhaps the scale of human action permits me and my friends, the guys with the leaflets or the shotguns, to decisively change history. Also, if you are a fundamentalist of a certain stripe, say a member of Hezbollah, it is still necessary to explain why the Faithful have been subject to the vagaries of history, and the glory that was once Islam has faded, overshadowed by the ascendency of Christendom. Surely the will of Allah has been thwarted, as a test of the Faithful... |
