It's incredibly convenient we have a Boogeyman de jour to compare everything to. I don't quite know how the most reactionary elements of our crumbling society would vent otherwise. If history teaches us anything, it would be: violently.

How else could we possibly look at the current cultural moment? Self-critically? No, never, not when we can engage in orientalism and rebuild a red scare.

I wonder if the British were this terrified of being bumped out of the #1 slot. Maybe the Dutch would be a more apt comparison.