The Return of History
January 04, 2016 13:08
"That the Islamic State has made violent use of history shouldn't come as a surprise. Perhaps more surprising is that in all those places where a modern nation has been grafted onto an ancient culture, history has returned with a vengeance. From Confucian China to Buddhist Myanmar to Hindu India, history has become the source of a fierce new conservatism that is being used to curb freedoms of women and stoke hatred of minorities. As the ultimate source of legitimacy, history has become a way for modernizing societies to procure the trappings of modernity while guarding themselves from its values."
Read Aatish Taseer's column for the New York Times.
Read Aatish Taseer's column for the New York Times.