In the Garden of Allah

In 1995 Don Henley wrote a song he titled In the Garden of Allah in which he describes a visit by Satan to Los Angeles. The song is a stark piece of social criticism. Henley obviously believes that postmodern nihilism is creating its own version of hell on earth.

For those not familiar with the song you can find the lyrics here. The whole song is relevant to our time, but perhaps the words that are most appropriate for our present cultural moment are those uttered by Satan when he says:

Because there are no facts, there is no truth, just data to be manipulated
I can get you any result you like....what's it worth to ya?
Because there is no wrong, there is no right
And I sleep very well at night
No shame, no solution
No remorse, no retribution

Having lost any basis for objective truth, as the devil correctly notes, there are no longer for modern man any facts, only subjective interpretations. Everyone's interpretations, everyone's truth, is equally valid and true and the only thing that matters is power and who has it.

Of course, if there's no objective truth, if everyone is their own arbiter of right and wrong, then it becomes extremely difficult for anyone to trust anyone else. And when trust is lost, society soon disintegrates. As Henley says at the end of the song:

And the devil is downhearted
Because there's nothing left for him to claim
He said: "It's just like home
It's so low-down, I can't stand it
I guess my work around here has all been done"

You can watch the whole rather macabre video here: