at February 21, 2006 9:49 AMSo, a newspaper publishes cartoons in Denmark and people die in Nigeria. Some people really have too much pent-up rage and too little outlet to channel it, don’t they! I have got to wonder if by now non-Muslims are not chilled by this apparent “pan-Islamic” solidarity then when will they wake up. It is also really funny to go to see “secularists” who will denounce Hindutva-vadis and Fundamentalist right-winger Christians in a hearbeat falling all over themselves to justify this behavior. If nothing, it exposes the hypocrisies of the “multiculturalists” who really believe fundmanetalism truimphs.
update: Here are some interesting thoughts on religion via Althouse -Mr. Dennett, anticipating the outrage his comparison will make, suggests that this how religion works. People will sacrifice their interests, their health, their reason, their family, all in service to an idea “that has lodged in their brains.” That idea, he argues, is like a virus or a worm, and it inspires bizarre forms of behavior in order to propagate itself. Islam, he points out, means “submission,” and submission is what religious believers practice. In Mr. Dennett’s view, they do so despite all evidence, and in thrall to biological and social forces they barely comprehend.
When you think about it, I don’t see much difference between religion and socialism. Both concepts require the individual to submit to a group-think as absolutely as possible. There is no room to maneuver or question the authority. I wonder is that is the reason why religion and socialism are anathema to each other - they are both essentially competing for the same resource - gullible individuals who somehow believe that the only way they can make themselves better is by submitting to the will of others.
Posted by shanti at February 20, 2006 10:00 AMTrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.realwomenonline.com/scgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/3352
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Butterfly Effect:
Dennett’s views remind me of Meme theory.
Posted by: Ambar at February 21, 2006 9:35 AM
Very true, Ambar - I guess we could look at religion as a set of codified memes.
Posted by: shanti at February 21, 2006 9:49 AM
it’s not just “submitting to the will of others,” although that’s an important part of it…it’s the desire for a framework that explains everything. And this desire can be found in the atheist postmodern professor as much as in the rural religious fundamentalist.
Someone, in a post I can’t find again, distinguished between “people who know” and “people who think.” The former are the ones who are uncomfortable with even temporary lack of knowledge, and hence tend to buy in to all-encompassing systems.
Posted by: David Foster at February 21, 2006 8:20 PM
Its true that there are lots of crazy idiots who are killing others for some stupid cartoon but I dont think you should use this to blame the “secularists”
I dont think there is any “real” secularist who will not condemn any act of terror in the name of religion.So,it is unfair to try to take the blame away from the Hindu Fundamentalists coz they are equally responsible for problems in India.
Posted by: Sidharth at February 22, 2006 9:33 PM
Sidharth - I personally, hate crazies of all kinds and have written multiple times about the Hindu fundamentalists as much as anyone else. I am also not blaming all “secularists” here. The only ones I find pathetic are the ones who show a double standard and criticize the same behavior in one set of people while trying to “understand” and justify it in another.
Posted by: shanti at February 23, 2006 2:49 PM