The young man stared the world that the War on Terror had made square in the eye. College was too costly, the pandemic accelerated mass layoffs, and the burdens of the world were growing heavier. War is what remains, so he walked toward it, into the only door left open for him. Peddled dreams waited with lofty promises of valor and victory, and a sales pitch about democracy and terrorism that matched the imagery of his favorite video games and Hollywood blockbusters.

Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamopho…, loc. 249