“In The Past,
Politicians promised
to create A Better World.
They had Different Ways of achieving this, but
Their Power and Authority came
from the optimistic Visions
they offered to Their People.
Those Dreams FAILED.
And Today, People have
Lost Faith in Ideologies.
Increasingly,
Politicians are seen simply
as Managers of Public Life.
But now, They have Discovered
A NEW Role that restores
Their Power and Authority.
Instead of Delivering Dreams, Politicians now promise
to Protect Us from NIGHTMARES.
They Say that
They will rescue Us,
from dreadful Dangers
that We cannot See and
DO Not Understand.
And The Great Danger of All — is
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM.
The story begins in the summer of 1949...
When a middle-aged school inspector from Egypt arrived at the small town of Greeley, in Colorado. His name was Sayyed Qutb.
Qutb had been sent to the U.S. to study its educational system, and he enrolled in the local state college. His photographs appear in the college yearbook.
But Qutb was destined to become much more than a school inspector. Out of his experiences of America that summer, Qutb was going to develop a powerful set of ideas that would directly inspire those who flew the planes on the attack of September the 11th.
As he had traveled across the country, Qutb had become increasingly disenchanted with America. The very things that, on the surface, made the country look prosperous and happy, Qutb saw as signs of an inner corruption and decay.
JOHN CALVERT, Islamist historian: This was Truman’s America, and many Americans today regard it as a golden age of their civilization. But for Qutb, he saw a sinister side in this. All around him was crassness, corruption, vulgarity—talk centered on movie stars and automobile prices.
He was also very concerned that the inhabitants of Greeley spent a lot of time in lawn care. Pruning their hedges, cutting their lawns.
This, for Qutb, was indicative of the selfish and materialistic aspect of American life. Americans lived these isolated lives surrounded by their lawns. They lusted after material goods. And this, says Qutb quite succinctly, is the taste of America.
VO: What Qutb believed he was seeing was a hidden and dangerous reality underneath the surface of ordinary American life. One summer night, he went to a dance at a local church hall. He later wrote that what he saw that night crystallized his vision.
CALVERT: He talks about how the pastor played on the gramophone one of the big- band hits of the day, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
He dimmed the lights so as to create a dreamy, romantic effect.
And then, Qutb says that “chests met chests, arms circled waists, and the hall was full of lust and love.”
VO: To most people watching this dance, it would have been an innocent picture of youthful happiness.
But Qutb saw something else : the dancers in front of him were tragic lost souls. They believed that they were free. But in reality, they were trapped by their own selfish and greedy desires. American society was not going forwards; it was taking people backwards.
They were becoming isolated beings, driven by primitive animal forces. Such creatures, Qutb believed, could corrode the very bonds that held society together. And he became determined that night to prevent this culture of selfish Individualism taking over his own country.
