I think the message is the very Iron Maidenish "live your life, fight the good fight, never give up" kind of thing.
One thing I realized, during the Bush era of the early 2000s,- the whole thing about the "prophet of disaster . . .predicting wars for millions in the hope that one appears". That was a perfect analysis of the "War on Terror." Bush (and, I'm assuming the British leaders, who seem to be in sync with America's often enough) was always reminding us to watch out for the terrorists - and keeping the country in constant fear made people support him and give him more power than if nobody was afraid of such "the enemy". In the early 80s, when this was written, America (and, I assume, also Britain?) had a similar issue with terrorists from "the eastern sands" (as well as the cold-war threat of Communists), and the government was always reminding us about the impeding doom.
I think the message is the very Iron Maidenish "live your life, fight the good fight, never give up" kind of thing.
One thing I realized, during the Bush era of the early 2000s,- the whole thing about the "prophet of disaster . . .predicting wars for millions in the hope that one appears". That was a perfect analysis of the "War on Terror." Bush (and, I'm assuming the British leaders, who seem to be in sync with America's often enough) was always reminding us to watch out for the terrorists - and keeping the country in constant fear made people support him and give him more power than if nobody was afraid of such "the enemy". In the early 80s, when this was written, America (and, I assume, also Britain?) had a similar issue with terrorists from "the eastern sands" (as well as the cold-war threat of Communists), and the government was always reminding us about the impeding doom.