The West does, of course, face challenges in an age when movements of people happen far more quickly across vast distances than ever before an age in which the notions of meaning and virtue are more contested an age where technological advancements and their corresponding impacts on society develop more rapidly. By and large, however, the past decade has seen far more of the opposite: The alarm surrounding crisis has been more of a call for “us” to attack and problematize “them,” which invariably leads to propositions such as “conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board,” as Douglas Murray, a hardcore right-wing pundit, once argued-not to mention conspiracy theories that blame all the ills of the modern world on those who look different than “us,” meaning white Europeans, or, worse, pray differently than “we” do. Such a phenomenon ought to be followed by self-reflection, self-interrogation, and retrospection. Throughout what is commonly known as the West, there has been a slew of books, articles, and public interventions calling attention to the notion of a cultural crisis within. There is something strangely comforting about a community that seems preoccupied with the notion that it is in crisis.
