Social media may be what is causing the Left to get isolated

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Dec 27, 2018 at 20:27

Dear Dr Pipes, I contend that the left might be getting isolated as a result of social media. In your blog post you correctly noted that Islamic countries are warming up to Israel and the left is getting isolated. You correctly identified that Arab countries need Israel's technology and that is why they may be warming up to Israel.

I see this phenomenon very much like what happened to the then Soviet Union in the late 1980s. At that time, USSR found it more and more difficult to compete against the west in technology. The financial collapse of Soviet Union caused and was caused by its technological deficiency against the West. In addition, as the communication revolution took place around the world, the entire Soviet population learned that the West was decades ahead of the Soviet Union in terms of prosperity and technology. That made it difficult for the communists to contain people's discontent and accelerated the demise of the soviet union.

I have long believed that if the Islamic nations did not have the accidental oil wealth, Islamic fundamentalism would have long died. As the petroleum prices are collapsing and populations of the Islamic societies is increasing, their economies are becoming unsustainable. Just as the communication revolution of the 1980s (TV, VCRs, computer disks) made it possible for the Soviet people to experience the west first hand, the Internet revolution of today is making it possible for the people of the Islamic countries to learn the truth about Islam through social media. These days millions of people are highlighting the hypocrisy of Islam on hundreds of social media platforms. From Australia, to India, to Europe to USA, the Internet chat rooms are loaded with messages from people regarding Islam. Islamic apologists, these days, have to constantly lie to paint Islam as fair and modern and they are quickly challenged when they paint Islam as fair. World is not dependent on divide-and-rule politicians, publication-hungry academics, and selfish media to share ideas and propagate views.

Trump in the USA could not have won if social had not been there. Neither could have Modi in India. And I am sure similar forces must be in action in Poland, Hungary and even inside the Islamic nations. These phenomenons may be forcing the left to get isolated and, as a result, to pause and think. This is a good news for all those of us who know stand for human freedom of thought and bad news for our fundamentalist opponents and their apologist buddies.

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