The Collapse Of The West Or The Birth Of A New Era? - Douglas Murray

Murray contends that Western liberal societies wrongly assume all people share the same fundamental desires. In reality, death cults—primarily jihadist movements—actively seek martyrdom and destruction. The taunt of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah that infidels’ love of life is a weakness must be answered by a willingness to fight. He illustrates with the story of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of October 7, who was killed by a young Israeli reservist not even in uniform when the attack happened—showing that those who worship death can be defeated by those who cherish life enough to defend it. The book, he says, is an attempt to answer the question of how democracies should respond to such fundamentally different value systems.

Murray argues that Jews are the perennial scapegoat because they can be blamed for contradictory things. In modern geopolitics, Iran’s theocracy calls Israel a colonial power while itself colonizing Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. Turkey’s President Erdoğan accuses Israel of occupation while illegally occupying northern Cyprus. Nazi Germany accused Jews of being racists—revealing its own nature. The insight, borrowed from writer Vasily Grossman, is that anti-Semitism is a psychological projection: the accusation mirrors the accuser’s own sins. This pattern, Murray says, makes anti-Semitism uniquely adaptable across the political spectrum.

Murray recounts several stories: a young man at the Nova music festival who, escaping the massacre, drove back three times to rescue strangers before being killed; a reservist who, believing he would die that day, made a farewell video for his children but survived and fought on; a drone operator in Ukraine scrolling past the Oval Office spat and simply saying “I’ve got a job to do.” These examples, he says, show that at the moment of trial people can rise magnificently. He contrasts this with the online realm where people are dejected and demoralized, yet in reality, when their homes and values are directly threatened, many act with astonishing courage. This is why he remains optimistic despite everything.

Returning to the UK after the inauguration, Murray found everyone “supremely depressed” and resigned to decline. He points to the endless 20-year debate over a third runway at Heathrow, the hypocrisy of Labour MPs who oppose a runway in England but lobby for an airport in Pakistan, and police knocking on doors for Facebook comments. Cultural institutions, like the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, prioritize foreign poets over Shakespeare. The British, he says, once had a stiff upper lip but now bond over suffering rather than seeking solutions. Without economic growth and cultural renewal, the UK will continue to stumble.

He credits growing up before the social media era with not internalizing strangers’ views. When receiving criticism, he asks: is this person trying to improve me (like a friend would) or to destroy me? If the latter, their words are worthless. He applies the same logic to himself—he would only criticize someone he cared about with the aim of improvement. He also notes that people who are very critical of others usually turn that criticism inward, and that he himself is self-critical, particularly about factual errors. He advises against spending time wondering what others think, as it prevents action.