optimism is a disease
I'm a novelist. Fortunately I don't have to rule the world.
I'm a world expert on superhero comics. I think maybe only Michael Chabon knows more than me.
I've met the Dalai Lama briefly, but I would probably say my grandfather was the wisest person I ever met. He was my mother's father, an Indian, a family doctor, and very unlike me in that he was deeply religious.
Sometimes legends make reality, and become more useful than the facts.
What I do think is evident is that those countries in the world where Islamic extremism has recovered the most power, those are also the countries which are most disliked.