Understanding the Causes of Murderous Militancy

Understanding the Causes of Murderous Militancy

(This post sets out my thoughts after reading some expert commentaries. It is does not purport to contain any original, let alone expert, views. It also concentrates on a historical perspective, rather than examining the process of radicalisation of Western citizens.)

Since Tudor times, Roman Catholics, or some of them, have been praying for the “Conversion of England”. Indeed, one eminent modern clergyman says that England should be viewed as a “lapsed” catholic country, so that praying for England’s conversion is equivalent to prayer for restoration of a lapsed catholic to the True Faith.

Don't follow the caterpillars in Spain

Don’t follow the caterpillars in Spain

Humans in general do not have a very happy relationship with creepy-crawlies. Most of us have a default assumption that creepy-crawlies are “nasty”, in the sense of probably in some way damaging to plants, fabrics, our structures, or our skin or worse.

There is something else as well. We can more or less anthropomorphise (and therefore think we understand) other forms of animal life, even dangerous predators (for example, sharks as psychopathic stalkers), but insects seem profoundly alien, especially those that do indeed do us harm.

Sour about Auerbach

Sour about Auerbach at Tate Britain

Would I (to put it crudely) “get” Auerbach when I visited the exhibition at the Tate? Or would I come out unmoved and perplexed, as on the few occasions I’ve come across his work (there are a couple in the Courtauld Gallery)?

I’m afraid I did not get it. I find Auerbach’s paintings of landscapes and urban places (usually Camden Town) confusing and lacking in feeling; his paintings of models (usually heads) sometimes ghastly.