Zadie on the weakness of the rational

From Zadie Smith, On Beauty (2005):

"If he's touched -- " began Michael, and Howard, over and above the madness of the conversation itself, began to feel genuinely afraid of him. The flight from the rational, which was everywhere in evidence in the new century, none of it had surprised Howard as it had surprised others, but each new example he came across - on the television, in the street and now in this young man - weakened him somehow. His desire to be involved in the argument, in the culture, fell off. The energy to fight the philistines, this is what fades.