Hi Clark,
<<I am full of amazement at where we are, as I have said, and how we got here. Personally, I think this is the nastiest, cheapest and meanest way for these fundamentalists to gain "control" in their communities.
You don't take up the issues of overpopulation, lack of education, poverty, abuse of the poor and disenfranchised...rather you preach the kingdom of heaven and reaching this place by violent hatred-laden acts. In heaven... not here everything will be made good. There will be water, virgins, sweetmeats, young men, etc.
I really can't make much distinction between Muslim, Christian, buddhist or Jewish fundamentalists... they all seem opportunists of the rankest sort. They all seem fixated on gaining power through hatred.>>
Indeed. Can't agree with you more on this. Hatred and fear are time honored ways for "politicians" to gain power, though. Dostoevsky was, I think, the first penetrating analyst of this behavior, in fiction anyway (Machiavelli certainly knew how it worked as well, but wrote under different constraints).. Arthur Koestler updated him for the Soviets in Darkness at Noon, is there a correlate that you know of for the Islamic world?
Some of the most wonderful people I have ever met have been "fundamentalists" of one sort or another, and some of the worst. They aren't called "extremists" for nothing.
Best wishes,
Sam |
