Foucault and the Ayatollah
In light of recent posts, and various responses to them, I thought I’d highlight this article, The Philosopher and the Ayatollah, by Wesley Yang. Yang documents Michel Foucault’s dalliance with Islamist fanaticism and his enthusiasm for a “perfectly unified collective will.”
“Foucault never considers the rights of women in Islam until his very last disillusioned missive, in May 1979. When an Iranian woman living in exile in Paris wrote a letter… castigating Foucault for his uncritical support of [the Khomeini revolution], he airily dismissed her claims as anti-Muslim hate-mongering.”
The piece was published a couple of years ago, but it seems relevant and fairly symbolic of what’s been discussed here in the last couple of days. Not least because it conveys Foucault’s contrarian posturing, his bizarre lack of realism, and, above all, his stunted moral sense – attributes shared by many of his PoMo peers at the time and, currently, by much of the political left. As, for instance, when the Socialist Worker published a piece by Loretta Napoleoni, claiming jihadist terrorism is “the new anti-imperialist ideology” and fawning over Musab al-Zarqawi’s “kindness” and “determination.” For other examples of practised unrealism, see here, here, here and here.
Yang’s article is worth reading in full. I’m pretty sure one or two modern parallels can be drawn.
If I hear the words “perfect unified collective will” I start thinking Nuremberg rally. May Day Parade. Or possibly lynch mob. They are terrifying words.
Well, it is a pretty creepy idea, and I struggle to find the appeal. I suppose Foucault’s profound lack of realism, combined with leanings towards Communism and a taste for rough and burly guys, somehow made Islamic fanaticism irresistible. Seductive, even. When I wrote the post above, I toyed with adding the words “titillated by evil”, but I guess that’s fairly implicit.
I still find it extraordinary that so many on the left threw themselves behind an essentially trivial and self-loathing narcissist – one who shaved his head for effect, and threw stones at police, again for effect, and who blathered facile word games about “transgression” and “subjection.” It’s even more extraordinary that quite a few people (generally schooled in such blatherings at an impressionable age) still struggle to defend him as a credible, serious figure and bearer of great knowledge.
Monday Evening Links
Driscoll says Va Tech is a gun-free zone. So is Washington, DC.Pat Buckley’s obit at NRO (presumably written by Bill). Bending over backwards to make Moslem accommodations at schools.Foucault and the Ayatollah. David Thompson. The Left-Jihadist alliance