Earlier anti-Western revolutionary movements lacked bin Laden’s popular reach

Evidence

But others in the not-too-distant past have appealed to similar sentiments, and offered similar inducements, without evoking similar support. Something else is involved, which marks him off from earlier exponents of pan-Arab, pan-Islamic, and other revolutionary movements against Western domination. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1768

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

Related

• Earlier anti-Western movements failed to win bin Laden’s level of popular support (similarity 0.98)
• Bin Laden’s appeal reached far beyond extremists to broad Arab publics (similarity 0.87)
• The concept of revolution as legitimacy was alien to Islamic tradition (similarity 0.81)
• Islamist revolutionaries rejected the West selectively, not wholesale (similarity 0.79)
• Arab leaders grew candid about national goals while ideology lagged behind. (similarity 0.79)
• Jihadist anti-Americanism opposes who rules, not imperial domination itself (similarity 0.79)