Destruction Of Individualism

Are all the threats faced by the world real or just an exercise of power as thought control? People fear chaos and the “nature state” hence enter a social contract. Similarly, when ideologies stop assisting in solving issues faced by people, leading to chaos, power through terror is utilised to strengthen the social fabric and prevent the breakdown of society by determining their needs and wants. Hence, when Qutb experienced the American society he became disillusioned with it and worked on ideas that would maintain a cohesive society. Likewise, Leo Strauss grew vary of Liberalism and believed that it would lead to its own destruction. Although, both ideologies criticise individualism and believe in hierarchy, however, they differ with respect

Both the Muslim brotherhood and Leo Strauss neo-conservatism are similar in the respect that they heavily criticised individualism. They believed if left to one’s own devices, individuals would take self-interested and biased decisions reflecting what they wanted rather than the community as a whole. Moreover, not only did individuals begin to see themselves as more important than the society that they were a

Qutb believed in a vanguard elite that would decide how the self-interested masses would live as they realised the general will of the masses thereby constraining the effect of individualism as less freedom given to decide their own affairs thus promoting a sense of cohesion and unity within the society. On the other hand, Strauss saw the role of the elites in promoting myths to regain control of society. He believed that the elite were to sell the public on the myth of a nation or religion even if they choose to ignore such beliefs themselves. This would have the same effect of curtailing individualism but in a different manner than Qutb’s brotherhood. Another key difference between the two lies in the approach they took to advancing their agenda. While neo-conservatism utilised all three faces of power to secure power - they believed in the political arena and utilised it to advance their agenda. Alternatively, Qutb’s brotherhood was much more radical in its approach of attaining cohesion. They believed a state of “Jahilliya” had spread across the world and even infiltrated Muslims minds hence had to be destroyed. This led to a belief in a revolutionary vanguard which would do anything to achieve their goals even if it meant sacrificing lives to achieve “the greater good.” Therefore, Qutb founded the radical Islamic views upon which today’s