PERSISTENCE OF FAILING BEHAVIORS AMONG MUSLIMS
Muslims, even many of the “best” among them (that is, the ones who can interact the least offensively with other human beings, rather than using murder and mayhem), practice a system that will bring them no advantage, now or in the future.
Why? Why do they keep doing it, century after century? They aren’t stupid, after all. You’d think they could look around them and understand that what they are doing may have worked in the first couple of hundred years of their history, but hasn’t gotten them anywhere at all in recent centuries, especially now, in the 21st century.
First, we human beings are “groupies.” We are “herd animals.” There is “power in numbers” with respect to our survival as a species;we band together for our mutual benefit. So strong is our desire to live as groups that we prefer to live among our own kind even when we treat each other badly.
Groups can be a nuclear family, a tribe, a sports team, a club, or political party, or nation, or even the entire population of the planet. Whatever the composition of the group, there are certain things it does to maintain its integrity as a group.
As a group, Islam has many characteristics that identify it as such. So do Jews, so do Catholics, so do Buddhists, so do birdwatchers, so do garden societies, so do Nascar fans, so do cancer survivors, so do Americans, so do the Irish, so do the Latvians, so do the Democrats, so do the Republicans—well, you understand. We form group alliances, and we "advertise" ourselves in various ways.
It would be unusual and all but impossible for us to identify closely with the entire population of humans on earth, if for no other reason than the number is so large that we have a problem holding it in our heads. One reason for breaking the entire population into smaller groups such as a kinship or a nation is simply because the number of individuals is easier for us to grasp.
We form groups where the individual members have interests in common with each other. It’s very important for us to have some means of demonstrating to our fellows just what those interests are. We wear uniforms, display flags and banners, wear lapel pins, dress in certain ways such as dark suits, surgical scrubs, tartans, choir robes, crowns, and so on.
What is it that leads a group to persist in a certain behavior? More to the point, what makes Muslims persist in behavior that is, to the rest of us, so obviously self-defeating?
FIRST, many groups tend to insulate themselves from “outsiders.” They talk to each other about the interests they have in common primarily with each other, often to the exclusion of others. Their interests they share with other members of the group are so consuming that they seldom understand how it is that EVERYONE doesn’t share them!
Islam is particularly good at self-insulation. For example, it has explicit rules against making friends with the Infidel (everyone but them). There are many such rules, even up to and including religious commandments to kill Infidels.
SECOND, groups get a very important part of their identity through a shared goal. The local kennel club would love to win the big one in Madison Square Garden, a bird-watching group would love to spot that bird thought to be a member of a species long considered extinct, and so on.
Islam's goal is to have every human being on the face of the planet convert to Islam. That’s its goal. That’s why it exists, its very raison d'etre. That’s the reason for their anti-everything-and-everyone-else but them behavior. Other people aren’t particularly interested in being converted; they’re usually reasonably content with whatever belief system they have. So, in the interests of achieving the goal of an Islamic planet, Muslims behave the way they do. If jihad, “the struggle,” ever stopped short of world conversion, Islam would lose the very reason for its existence—the implementation of its goal of implementing Islam everywhere on earth.
THIRD, every group recognizes that its effectiveness as a group relies on its ability to influence others in some way. That’s where its power comes from. It has a goal to achieve, but even if it fails in the short run, it needs to retain its ability to exert influence. It does this by attention-getting behavior, by being certain that even if it hasn’t achieved its goal successfully, it will remain in the limelight in some way so that it won’t be forgotten, and it can try again some time in the future.
Islam was quite successful in its initial efforts to convert the world. Eventually, however, it ran into others, especially the Christians, who didn’t share its goal, and who were successful in bringing the Islamic effort of world conquest to a halt. Islam ran out of steam for a while, and lost quite a bit of ground before retreating into a more or less quiescent phase. It kept practicing, though; sub-groups of Muslims fought each other as if they were Infidels. Then the discovery of oil gave their goal of world conquest new life, and jihad once again became active. By turning off and on the oil spigot, by encouraging and funding jihadists, by building mosques and madrassas, by forbidding birth control, by forming political pressure groups, and so on, it continues to demonstrate its influence, it continues to show that it is powerful.
It hasn't achieved its goal yet, but it's persisting in its effort by 1) insulating itself from competing beliefs, 2) by keeping its goal always in front of its members, and 3) by staying in a position of power and influence wherever possible. By behaving in this way, members of the group maintain a strong sense of identity; they think of the goal of Islam as their very reason for existing, for living.
So there are three basic reasons why a group like Islam persists in a particular behavior:
1) It insulates itself from others, not allowing new ways of thinking to enter.
2) It works to achieve a goal, which is its identity, its very reason for existing at all.
3) It works hard to maintain influence, which is a version of power, even when it is not making progress towards the goal.
In short, for Islam to stop having temper tantrums,1) it must allow “Newthink” to enter its thought processes; otherwise, it cannot adapt to changing circumstances; 2) it must acquire a different goal, a new identity, one that is more consistent with changing circumstances; and 3) it must demonstrate that it has influence, or power, in a way that is acceptable to others.
If it is unsuccessful at adapting to 21st century thinking, it will go the way of the dinosaurs.
Why? Why do they keep doing it, century after century? They aren’t stupid, after all. You’d think they could look around them and understand that what they are doing may have worked in the first couple of hundred years of their history, but hasn’t gotten them anywhere at all in recent centuries, especially now, in the 21st century.
First, we human beings are “groupies.” We are “herd animals.” There is “power in numbers” with respect to our survival as a species;we band together for our mutual benefit. So strong is our desire to live as groups that we prefer to live among our own kind even when we treat each other badly.
Groups can be a nuclear family, a tribe, a sports team, a club, or political party, or nation, or even the entire population of the planet. Whatever the composition of the group, there are certain things it does to maintain its integrity as a group.
As a group, Islam has many characteristics that identify it as such. So do Jews, so do Catholics, so do Buddhists, so do birdwatchers, so do garden societies, so do Nascar fans, so do cancer survivors, so do Americans, so do the Irish, so do the Latvians, so do the Democrats, so do the Republicans—well, you understand. We form group alliances, and we "advertise" ourselves in various ways.
It would be unusual and all but impossible for us to identify closely with the entire population of humans on earth, if for no other reason than the number is so large that we have a problem holding it in our heads. One reason for breaking the entire population into smaller groups such as a kinship or a nation is simply because the number of individuals is easier for us to grasp.
We form groups where the individual members have interests in common with each other. It’s very important for us to have some means of demonstrating to our fellows just what those interests are. We wear uniforms, display flags and banners, wear lapel pins, dress in certain ways such as dark suits, surgical scrubs, tartans, choir robes, crowns, and so on.
What is it that leads a group to persist in a certain behavior? More to the point, what makes Muslims persist in behavior that is, to the rest of us, so obviously self-defeating?
FIRST, many groups tend to insulate themselves from “outsiders.” They talk to each other about the interests they have in common primarily with each other, often to the exclusion of others. Their interests they share with other members of the group are so consuming that they seldom understand how it is that EVERYONE doesn’t share them!
Islam is particularly good at self-insulation. For example, it has explicit rules against making friends with the Infidel (everyone but them). There are many such rules, even up to and including religious commandments to kill Infidels.
SECOND, groups get a very important part of their identity through a shared goal. The local kennel club would love to win the big one in Madison Square Garden, a bird-watching group would love to spot that bird thought to be a member of a species long considered extinct, and so on.
Islam's goal is to have every human being on the face of the planet convert to Islam. That’s its goal. That’s why it exists, its very raison d'etre. That’s the reason for their anti-everything-and-everyone-else but them behavior. Other people aren’t particularly interested in being converted; they’re usually reasonably content with whatever belief system they have. So, in the interests of achieving the goal of an Islamic planet, Muslims behave the way they do. If jihad, “the struggle,” ever stopped short of world conversion, Islam would lose the very reason for its existence—the implementation of its goal of implementing Islam everywhere on earth.
THIRD, every group recognizes that its effectiveness as a group relies on its ability to influence others in some way. That’s where its power comes from. It has a goal to achieve, but even if it fails in the short run, it needs to retain its ability to exert influence. It does this by attention-getting behavior, by being certain that even if it hasn’t achieved its goal successfully, it will remain in the limelight in some way so that it won’t be forgotten, and it can try again some time in the future.
Islam was quite successful in its initial efforts to convert the world. Eventually, however, it ran into others, especially the Christians, who didn’t share its goal, and who were successful in bringing the Islamic effort of world conquest to a halt. Islam ran out of steam for a while, and lost quite a bit of ground before retreating into a more or less quiescent phase. It kept practicing, though; sub-groups of Muslims fought each other as if they were Infidels. Then the discovery of oil gave their goal of world conquest new life, and jihad once again became active. By turning off and on the oil spigot, by encouraging and funding jihadists, by building mosques and madrassas, by forbidding birth control, by forming political pressure groups, and so on, it continues to demonstrate its influence, it continues to show that it is powerful.
It hasn't achieved its goal yet, but it's persisting in its effort by 1) insulating itself from competing beliefs, 2) by keeping its goal always in front of its members, and 3) by staying in a position of power and influence wherever possible. By behaving in this way, members of the group maintain a strong sense of identity; they think of the goal of Islam as their very reason for existing, for living.
So there are three basic reasons why a group like Islam persists in a particular behavior:
1) It insulates itself from others, not allowing new ways of thinking to enter.
2) It works to achieve a goal, which is its identity, its very reason for existing at all.
3) It works hard to maintain influence, which is a version of power, even when it is not making progress towards the goal.
In short, for Islam to stop having temper tantrums,1) it must allow “Newthink” to enter its thought processes; otherwise, it cannot adapt to changing circumstances; 2) it must acquire a different goal, a new identity, one that is more consistent with changing circumstances; and 3) it must demonstrate that it has influence, or power, in a way that is acceptable to others.
If it is unsuccessful at adapting to 21st century thinking, it will go the way of the dinosaurs.
posted by Cubed © @ 2/01/2005 07:40:00 AM
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