Google| Subject | Re: Republicanism still an offence in England? (wasRe: Queen mother |
| From | Bagronk the Happy Orc |
| Date | 2002-05-22 20:41 (2002-05-22 20:41) |
| Message-ID | <7lnneu0vj30p4jcqpldpg51vbuvvnttiah@4ax.com> |
| Client | |
| Newsgroups | alt.fan.tolkien |
| Follows | Russ |
| Followups | Russ (1h & 27m) > Bagronk the Happy Orc ?jevind L?ng (4h & 20m) Flame of the West (9h & 19m) |
I found some words from mcresq@aol.com (Russ) in my phone cable...
RussSo why is Falwell more moderately than Osama, though they seem to share most arrtibutes (you mentioned fundamentalism and narrow-mindedness yourself)?
I actually part company with Flame a bit here. I don't particularly like Christian fundamentalists and agree they are narrow-minded. On the other hand, they are not the bogeymen you make them out to be. You seem to have an especial dislike of Falwell, but to the best of my knowledge he never encouraged people to strap explosives on and walk into parties or to hijack airliners and slam them into buildings. Let's try to keep a little perspective here.
Perhaps it is only that the Christian fundamentalists have no _need_ to strap explosives on, because they lack a worthy enemy. Oh, of course, abortionists, but what's that compared with Osama's "the west, the USA, the Great Satan"? (well, the latter quote was Chomeini IIRC, but fits to Osama as well)
The Christian fundis, especially US ones, just are happy enough to be on the rich, developed side of the world. Whenever they were the ones who felt oppressed and pushed against the wall, their fundamentalism grew and their will to kill, too. Compare the Crusades after the Arabs conquered the Middle East. Compare Northern Ireland (where I do not dare to judge which side is oppressed by the other. I guess they both feel that way.)
Hypothesize one dangerous fundi in Arabia. Well, he grows old and has to look for successors. Hypothesize a little clueless boy. Now the fundi wants to educate the boy. What can he tell him? The boy sees Palestinians living in the dirt of refugee camps. He sees US planes over Afghanistan. He sees pictures of glittering American cities. He sees American commercials. Easy to teach him envy and feeling of inferiority. Even easier to replace this with religious fundamentalism. And just one step from handing him the explosives.
(Sorry if I seem to boil everything down to economics, but that's my Marxist pov, I can't help it).
Fundamentalism is bad on either side. But what it needs to stir that up from just a little annoying narrow-mindedness to a _deadly_ plane-hijacking fundamentalism is a) bad education up to illiterateness, b) a desperate economic situation, c) a mighty foe which you can envy.
I do not say fundamentalists are harmless if you keep them well-fed and rich, either. They basically stay the same anyway. But maybe they finally get a bit lazy. And they won't find successors when they prepare themselves for their last journey to whatever-they-imagine.
-- Bagronk the Happy Orc Uruk Revolutionary Socialist Movement
2002-03-30-
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