Global Issues: Cultural Conflict ~ Clash of Civilizations: Neo-Cons losing the plot

To some neo-cons the ‘clash of civilization’ thesis seems to be an article of faith. In a not quite so recent article (15th September) in the Washington Post entitled “Newt Gingrich, unhinged over Obama”, Eugene Robinson says that Newt Gingrich’s increasingly wild outbursts reveal his belief in a clash of civilisations.

The contributions of the Republican leader, Newt Gingrich, to the public discourse have become increasingly unbalanced, writes Eugene Robinson. The latest example comes when he criticised President Obama in an interview, saying: “What if Obama is so outside our comprehension that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behaviour can you begin to piece together his actions?” What does “Kenyan, anti-colonial behaviour” mean? Last year, during the confirmation hearings for Justice Sonia Sotomayor, he said that her innocuous “wise Latina” remark proved she is a racist. The rhetorical insanity of Gingrich, who aspires to be president, plumbed new depths last month when he accused supporters of the Lower Manhattan mosque of “triumphalism” and compared them to Nazis. There’s a thread that connects Gingrich’s outbursts: they all fit into the idea that American democracy—indeed, the whole Anglo-American-Judeo-Christian enterprise—is under attack in a titanic clash of civilisations.