Dancing with Dogs: Islamic fanatics and Identity

Islamic fanatics and Identity

The divestment campaign did not just happen, and speakers assaulting Israel do not appear of themselves. This antipathy toward Israel grows from a campus culture that is selectively repressive. All the while that students, in the spirit of diversity, are actively discouraged from making pejorative comments about other vulnerable minorities, some Arab and Muslim students have been actively fomenting hatred of Israel as an expression of their "identity." On campuses with a large Arab presence, such as Wayne State in Detroit, this has resulted in a palpable threat to Jewish students, and outbreaks of physical violence have actually occurred at San Francisco State and Concordia University in Montreal.

Look at the emphasized (emphasis mine) line a little more closely. That should tell you a bit more about the problem Islamic world in general is facing these days - an identity crisis. You look at the Islamic societies fomenting terrorism all over the world and what do you see? Pakistan - born to be Anti-India, Palestinians - may have had legitimate grievances a long time ago, but now, just Anti-Israel, rest of the fundamentalists - anti-America, anti-Jew, anti-Hindu, anti-Christian, anti-Western values, anti-democracy, anti-gay, anti-women, well pretty much anti-everything that is decent and worth living your life for.

When a cause is calling for death, only the most fanatic of the followers will obey. But what happens if the followers of the cause are so obsessed and drenched with it that there is no difference between the people and the cause? What happens when the people are so immersed in the cause, so as to forge an identity for their future generations that is devoid of any individual identity, but but is the cause itself?

Let me explain a bit more. I think it is easy to retain a rational and objective point-of-view as long as you know who you are and you know that you are supporting a certain movement, because you think there is something right about it. You are then separate from the cause you are supporting and fighting for. Once, you leave the realm of separation, and start merging your identity and your offspring's identity with that of the cause, there is no rational thought any more. If your cause is dissed, you are dissed. If your cause is failing, then you are a failure.

This can be pretty common among poeple and religions where the group comes before the individual, and group think is valued more than independent thoughts, which is very true of the various fanatic Islamic movements. Unfortunately for the groups, they have bet on the wrong horses, but choosing to stick with the medieval over the modern, in most of the causes they have chosen. Where does this lead but to despair and utter feelings of failure, especially when you believe in your causes firmly enough to forget that you can survive even if your cause is dead. In my opinion, I believe this could be one of the biggest reasons for why the radicals have such low regard for life, and such love for death - both theirs and others'.

Posted by shanti at December 16, 2002 3:16 PM