Why should a modern society with well-established secularised traditions turn increasingly to religion? What are the potential threats for our freedoms? A dark emotional climate is ever more prevalent, both in political discourse and in everyday life: the fear of the other, the fear that separates the world into us versus them, God versus Satan, civilisation versus barbarianism. The defeat of old ideologies has given way to a new public narrative which is just as ideological and perhaps even more far-reaching. It is supported by a strong system of newspapers and television networks that on a daily basis produce a media fear machine. As in any other war, this one also has its unintentional victims: us. Surrounded and submerged in hate, we allow ourselves to be persuaded to sacrifice our civil rights. This is what we should fear, says the author, not the "invading other".

Roberto Escobar teaches Political Philosophy and Political Language Analysis at the University of Milan.