ithin the narrow bounds of its theology, the Islamic State hums with energy, even creativity. Outside those bounds, it could hardly be more arid and silent: a vision of life as obedience, order, and destiny. Musa Cerantonio and Anjem Choudary could mentally shift from contemplating mass death and eternal torture to discussing the virtues of Vietnamese coffee or treacly pastry, with apparent delight in each, yet to me it seemed that to embrace their views would be to see all the flavors of this world grow insipid compared with the vivid grotesqueries of the hereafter.<\/p>\n
I could enjoy their company, as a guilty intellectual exercise, up to a point. In reviewing Mein Kampf in March 1940, George Orwell confessed that he had \u201cnever been able to dislike Hitler\u201d\u009d; something about the man projected an underdog quality, even when his goals were cowardly or loathsome. \u201cIf he were killing a mouse he would know how to make it seem like a dragon.\u201d\u009d The Islamic State\u2019s partisans have much the same allure. They believe that they are personally involved in struggles beyond their own lives, and that merely to be swept up in the drama, on the side of righteousness, is a privilege and a pleasure\u201d\u201despecially when it is also a burden.<\/p>\n
Fascism, Orwell continued, is<\/p>\n
psychologically far sounder than any hedonistic conception of life \u201d\u00a6 Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people \u201cI offer you a good time,\u201d\u009d Hitler has said to them, \u201cI offer you struggle, danger, and death,\u201d\u009d and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet \u201d\u00a6 We ought not to underrate its emotional appeal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n