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I think this is one of the greatest problems of Western secular liberalism: people who aren't religious don't understand how powerful religion is. It's the weirdest thing; we (I mean, Western secular liberals) have forgotten how powerful ideas are.
Western secularists think this is a debate in which the best-articulated and most-rational arguments will win, and that these arguments are quite obviously those of the Enlightenment. Islamic fundamentalists want to kill and enslave everyone who doesn't convert to Islam.
Western liberals: "oh but you see that's a metaphor for the clash of ideas"
Jihadists: "no, we actually want to end your lives and enslave your women"
Western liberals: "obviously that's a multilayered reference that needs to be unpacked from a standpoint of cultural subjectivity"
Jihadists: "no, you must convert or die"
Western liberals: (nodding)
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