Across the Corpus Divide

The artificial separation between East and West that was upheld during the Cold War has collapsed and the commonalities that existed as being on either team East or team West have collapsed along with it. The centrist plank of the Democratic party found companionship with the centrist plank of the Republican party and the strength that this collaboration held the extremes of both parties at bay.

Now that this artificial war has gone to the wayside for now, it is clear that what remains of the Cold War is now being waged in the right and left hemispheres of the mind. The common foe gone, the warring factions are once again at each others throats and into this fray comes the accession of the Global Jihad. The battle between right and left has been engaged and it is clear that the extremes of both sides, Pat Buchanan and Noam Chomsky believe that the interloper in this conflict, radical Islam, is either a paranoid construct of the other side or just desserts for meddling in world affairs, sprinkled in with an unhealthy alliance with the state of Israel.

We are faulted that we think that we are in league with all nations in a world-wide bazaar where producers bring goods and services according to their ability and this market theory does not mesh with other cultural models of the world. In his book, “The Lexus and the Olive Tree”, Thomas Friedman makes the case that the nations of the world would adopt open systems and institute transparency or, as Friedman states, put on a “Golden Straight Jacket”. But it is clear that while some democracies may acquiesce to this model, others will not.

I recently read a paper by Bruno Latour that asked the question whether civilization was in a process of “Progress or Entanglement?”, and it begs the question as the world shrinks are we becoming more aligned in our system of beliefs or are conflicting heterogeneous systems being collided together in a way that will only end in strife and war?