The following is a long excerpt from a longer article published in 2002 by Lee Harris, Al Qaeda's Fantasy Ideology. The full article is about what it says in the title, but this excerpt spends several thousand words describing fantasy ideology as a general concept. I find it to be an insightful and novel description of a particular type of common irrationality.

A personal recollection

My first encounter with this particular kind of fantasy occurred when I was in college in the late sixties. A friend of mine and I got into a heated argument. Although we were both opposed to the Vietnam War, we discovered that we differed considerably on what counted as permissible forms of anti-war protest. To me the point of such protest was simple — to turn people against the war. Hence anything that was counterproductive to this purpose was politically irresponsible and should be severely censured. My friend thought otherwise; in fact, he was planning to join what by all accounts was to be a massively disruptive demonstration in Washington, and which in fact became one.

My friend did not disagree with me as to the likely counterproductive effects of such a demonstration. [...]

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Outline:

(00:31) A personal recollection

(04:02) The nature of fantasy ideology

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First published:
April 7th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3bwGjE2CeEfsWaQhB/fantasy-ideology

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“Fantasy ideology” by Ninety-Three

LessWrong (30+ Karma)