Terry Eagleton on the barbarism of the West

'what I object to is the dangerous fudging of the line between the Muslim world and the Taliban, and the easy moral superiority that leaves us blind to our own crimes, or the crimes done in our names. It is an obvious point, but one still worth making, that it was our own barbarism and colonialism in the Middle East that has helped to create these situations in the first place. Amis and Hitchens have become perversely silent on the crimes of Western civilisation. Western civilisation has produced enormous advances, but not to see the darker side of that, not to see the barbarism of the West, and not to see that at a time when we are killing thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan, seems extraordinarily naive.'

Read the full interview here.

On the subject of the barbarism of Western civilisation, can contemporary British popular culture, and I use the word 'popular' advisedly, possibly sink to any lower depths than this? The very thought of crossing 'Little Britain' with 'Big Brother' to form 'Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack' or some such shit makes me nauseous. The recruitment team over at Al Qaeda must be rubbing their hands with glee...

Edited to add: Indeed, given the choice between watching five minutes of 'The Very Best of Little Britain' or being subjected to watching Blair singing the praises of Bush's two pet dogs for 24 hours in a locked room, I would choose 'Congratulations Barney and Miss Beazley on becoming Junior Park Rangers' every fucking time...