That's a scary thought. I've never thought that Cat Stevens, John Walker Lindh, Cassius Clay and other converts might be just leading the way to Islam.
I have grown so accustomed to a quiescent Christianity and substantial personal freedom from fanatical religion that I've started to assume it's the norm. It has been a brief freedom and still it's illegal to open one's shop during Easter.
You sent a shiver down my spine as I know that there is a very strong totalitarian streak in most people with about 70% being enthusiastic about social control and tribal dominance of individuals [even when it's a personal matter for that individual and not defending public interest, and others, which is fair enough].
It's in my nature to be an individual. It's in their nature to be part of an alpha male territorial kleptocratic tribal dominance hierarchy - CB mentioned chimp troop meeting chimp troop and I like the analogy because human brains are little different from chimps in the limbic, amygdala and other components [as far as I know, which isn't far] but we have a lot of thinking, remembering, conceptual chunks added on. Some of us anyway.
I shall now contemplate the prospect that Islamic ideology will in fact appeal to people in the freedom-loving [hahahaha] west and I will be subsumed in the fanaticism.
We only need to think of the Nuremberg rallies and the like to see how enthusiastically people sign up to the collective, even if it's leading to destruction and carnage.
Scary. Maybe Christianity has lost support because it's not fanatical and dominant enough to suit the psyches of most people.
We atheists have perhaps enjoyed an interglacial period of warmth and peace, which I note has coincided with the amazing developments of the 20th century, but the natural state of frozen minds is about to descend again, with Islam adopted around the world.
As Osama says, people automatically choose a strong horse. They like strong leaders. Oh heck...
Feeling queasy,
Mqurice |
