I was published in the September 2006 issue of Liberty Magazine with a reflection titled “If It Hadn’t Been for That Meddling West.”
Writing after the arrest of a group of alleged Islamist terrorists in Canada, I question the familiar claim that terrorism against Western countries is principally a reaction to American foreign policy and Western interference.
I argue that the deeper causes lie within dysfunctional cultures that suppress individual autonomy, romanticize violence, and leave little room for self-respect or independent thought. Whatever the failures of Western governments, they cannot reasonably be blamed for every act of violence directed against the societies that have offered immigrants security and prosperity.
The reflection appears on pages 17–18 of the print issue.