Based On What?

But I also believe that given a choice between soul-throttling fundamentalism and individual liberty, most people will pick liberty in the end. ~Andrew Sullivan

Leaving aside for the moment just what Sullivan means by “fundamentalism,” it remains entirely possible that large numbers of people will quite willingly choose to have their souls “throttled” because they regard it as the better option of the two.  This seems strange to many Americans, but then most of the world also seems strange to many Americans.  Perhaps what we regard as normal and obvious is not a good guide for what will happen around much of the rest of the world, since our society is still generally so markedly different from many societies around the world.