Fostered fears of disorder drive conformity and distrust globally

Evidence

What is most important, in my opinion, about these three groups is that for them knowledge is essentially an actively sought out and contested thing, not merely a passive recitation of facts and “accepted” views. The struggle between this view, as it bears upon other cultures and beyond that into wide political questions, and the specialized institutional knowledge fostered by the dominant powers of advanced Western society is an epochal matter. It far transcends the question whether a view is proor anti-Islamic, or whether one is a patriot or a traitor. As our world grows more tightly knit together, the control of scarce resources, strategic areas, and large populations will seem more desirable and more necessary. Carefully fostered fears of anarchy and disorder will very likely produce conformity of views and, with reference to the “outside” world, greater distrust: this is as true of the Islamic world as it is of the West. At such a time — which has already begun — the production and diffusion of knowledge will play an absolutely crucial role. Yet until knowledge is understood in human and political terms as something to be won to the service of coexistence and community, not of particular races, nations, classes, or religions, the future augurs badly. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 347

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Said’s overall thesis in Covering Islam and to his idea that institutional knowledge serves dominant powers — resonates with the Foucauldian knowledge-power link. — connects to: the MOC “The Viral Refinery: How Preexisting Fringe Fears Get Smelted Into Mainstream Reality”
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that a tightly knit world makes resource control ‘seem more desirable’ and that manufactured fear produces conformity is a dense, systemic argument about knowledge production and geopolitics worth sitting with.