Many writers have remarked on how militant Islamic fundamentalism seems to stand opposed to modernism itself.  What this view tends to overlook is the ways in which Islamic fundamentalism depends on modernism for its own survival.

The radical contemporary form of Islam under which people fly airplanes into buildings or battle ceaselessly to topple secular states appears fueled to a very large degree by a desire to shut out the negative effects of modernism.  It seems to be no accident that the more exposure people from Muslim countries have to the Western world, the more likely they are to embrace Islamic fundamentalism.

Sometimes the ways in which contemporary people look to Islam for answers are so odd as to be comical.  For example, not long ago, a great portion of the Islamic world rose to condemn, of all things, Pokemon (a Japanese creation) as a Zionist mind-control plot targeted at children.  Parents in the Arab world were at a loss to explain the hold this fad had over their kids--as well as the rudeness these offspring frequently displayed when told to turn off a Pokemon TV program.

In the final analysis, the parents were simply unsophisticated about the nature and degree of "mind control" that clever contemporary marketing can exert.  As for their kids’ rudeness, a connection to the discipline-averse parenting methods now in vogue in so much of the world may have eluded them as well.  All they really seemed to know for sure was that something modern was having an objectionable effect on their lives.  The tie of objectionable modernity to Israel, the nearest representative of things Western and disapproved of, was apparently as automatic as the turn to Islamic fundamentalism for remedy.

Wherever the strains of modern life produce a hard-to-articulate form of dissatisfaction, it is likely that Islamic fundamentalism will continue to make similar gains.  It is thus very much in our interests to be in the forefront of disseminating rational analysis and explanation of what's askew in our contemporary world.

Not everybody in the Islamic world will get it, at least not right away.  But if the more intelligent and reasonable elements do, that will be an awfully good start.

Maybe we can even enlist their help in the process of discovery.  We in the West are, after all, far from omniscient.  In many ways, we are as much in the dark about the nature and origins of our problems as everyone else is.