21.6.04 [ ] 2 comments 
Edited June 24:
In retrospect, I don't like this post; I will revist and re-evaluate this issue (if it indeed exists) at a later date. For now, I have finished the book and it has not laid any insight rather than what was apparent in the introduction (I had thought that it was merely an exposition for a progressive and insightful conclusion; I thought wrong :P).
I am reading What Went Wrong?, which is doing absolutely nothing to hamper my fear of irrational global conflict in the near future. According to Bernard Lewis's interpretations, Muslims are trained from the cradle to harness an aptitude for doublethink; thus allowing them to adamantly dispise and loathe infidels (people like me), while living and working with them at the same time (if only to aid the ultimate goal of the conversion or elimination of infidels). Scary (but not in a "I'm curled into a ball, trembling while hiding in my closet" kind of scary; more like a "insanely unstable and unpredictable" kind of scary).
A Catholic confessed to me today that if she hadn't lost faith in the concept of organized religion, and was given an oppertunity to choose again, she would be a Muslim; it is true (at least from the Muslims that I have met in the flesh) that the Islamic community has a stronger sense of community than many others.
However, je me souviens. One must include his fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters before s/he embraces a stranger (which, oddly enough, I did today; those Unitarians are all about hugs). Yup, I can't trade my faith, but it is important to understand the other.
In retrospect, I don't like this post; I will revist and re-evaluate this issue (if it indeed exists) at a later date. For now, I have finished the book and it has not laid any insight rather than what was apparent in the introduction (I had thought that it was merely an exposition for a progressive and insightful conclusion; I thought wrong :P).
I am reading What Went Wrong?, which is doing absolutely nothing to hamper my fear of irrational global conflict in the near future. According to Bernard Lewis's interpretations, Muslims are trained from the cradle to harness an aptitude for doublethink; thus allowing them to adamantly dispise and loathe infidels (people like me), while living and working with them at the same time (if only to aid the ultimate goal of the conversion or elimination of infidels). Scary (but not in a "I'm curled into a ball, trembling while hiding in my closet" kind of scary; more like a "insanely unstable and unpredictable" kind of scary).
A Catholic confessed to me today that if she hadn't lost faith in the concept of organized religion, and was given an oppertunity to choose again, she would be a Muslim; it is true (at least from the Muslims that I have met in the flesh) that the Islamic community has a stronger sense of community than many others.
However, je me souviens. One must include his fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters before s/he embraces a stranger (which, oddly enough, I did today; those Unitarians are all about hugs). Yup, I can't trade my faith, but it is important to understand the other.
Not for me, mind you; I love the critical analyses. However, there is a hemisphere of peoples who may need more convincing (why is it important? ignorance is a leading cause of war these days...)
Post a Comment