Starblogging about extremism

Somewhat of a rude surprise that Starbucks charges for their wireless connection, but I guess it shouldn't be. So much for Starbucks being the friendly neighborhood coffee shoppe on the corner. But I had to do it, just to say that I've blogging at Starbucks while drinking a non-fat iced latte. Too bad the damn sun is washing out my iBook's screen...

I think I have a new paradigm of al Qaeda and Muslim extremism that works for me. Thanks to Fareed Zakaria for the metaphor, which is that this "brand" of extremism is a supernova that exploded within the Islamic world, and its ripples have spread throughout the religion, creating extremist hot spots that will take some time to extinguish. (Actually, he mixed metaphors and said that the supernova planted a "virus" in the Muslim community, and you can see what he was getting at, but mixing metaphors isn't my bag, baby.) So here we have the intersection of the extremist supernova - set off by whom, exactly, I'm not sure, the Saudis? bin Laden? - that has found a willing target in young, disaffected Muslim boys and men. They are taught to hate the West, scorn anyone who doesn't follow strict Islamic code, and are often described by their families as changed individuals who even came home and criticized the family's "wrong" ways of living life that weren't up to orthodox standards.

Sound familiar? I'd say this is cult mentality in spades. Once again, I'm not original in this at all - I found many articles, including this one that support this view, and I think it's catching on. What I know of cults is admittedly limited, but one hallmark is that it's generally young, well-educated, middle class people who are most vulnerable to the pull of extreme views. In Islam it happens to be skewed toward men, I'm guessing because women are not as free to become educated and pull away from their families, but in general you see this sort of thing all the time. The Manson family, Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, Branch Davidians - lots of young people in the thrall of a charismatic leader who feeds them increasingly warped visions of reality until they are essentially brainwashed. Not a new phenomenon, but what's new about al Qaeda and Muslim extremism in general is that they espouse mass killings and attacks on innocent civilians as "acceptable" methods of expressing their beliefs, or rather impressing their beliefs on an evil and threatening society. Their aims, like many cults, are unreasonable and basically impossible - to bring back Islamic caliphates in as many countries and cultures as possible, and to stem the tide of modern lifestyles and views, especially in the Islamic world but essentially everywhere they can. Certainly no shortage of modern lifestyles out there!

In a strange way, the "Cult Frame" around this issue really helps me to understand it, something I've been struggling to do ever since September 11th. What makes young, educated men commit such horrible acts? How do they get to such a place where this seems rational and even required of them? Why, a cult, of course! Obviously not quite that simplistic, but at the root of it I think that's the best explanation.

Now, to extend this entry beyond the original point, I begin to wonder about cult spectrum, and whether there are lesser "cults" out there, and how I and others in my peer group fit into this. (Because it must, in the end, come back to me. Always.) After all, I'm essentially the demographic I just accused of being most vulnerable to cults, perhaps a bit too old, but still. Highly educated, early 30's, reasonably wealthy middle class background, and obviously with an idealistic streak. But hey, I'm not susceptible to the kind of cult thinking that those men flying the planes or planting the train bombs were, am I? Definitely not to that extent, but I am pretty passionate about Apple computers, and I do have a certain reverence for Steve Jobs. I even try to convince people to switch to Macs, almost daily (usually only when approached - I'm a gentle evangelist, not an aggressive one). Co-workers who "hate Macs" and call them inferior definitely raise my blood pressure and provoke me to launch a campaign to change their minds. I also believe fervently in the progressive, liberal point of view on most issues, although I'm less vocal about that outside this blog. People who spit out ridiculous conservative viewpoints like "intelligent design" and "privatizing social socurity" piss me off to the point where I feel like yelling and hitting something. Now, let me be clear, I've only hit one person in anger in my life, and he had it coming ([Rant]Alex Clavel, wherever you are, you were and probably still are a coward and a dick and a bully and I'm ashamed to have gone to Deerwood and Princeton with you. I hope you know that you had a starring role in ruining camp for me.[/Rant]). I believe that I'm far too skeptical and non-conformist to accept at face value any belief system that would have me do harm, or even make profoundly unhappy, any other members of the human race. So don't go away thinking I'm some ticking time bomb here, I'm just saying what gets me riled.

I encourage you, blog reader, to consider for yourself, assuming you fit the demographic, how you are different from the train bombers or the Sept. 11th hijackers. What are your passionate beliefs? Where did they originate? How far would you go to promote them? If loggers were threatening an old growth forest with gorgeous trees and wildlife near your childhood home, for example, would you spike trees? Live in one? Vandalize logging equipment? Stand in the way of a chainsaw? I'm just asking. Because there are people out there who get so worked up about stuff like this that they might even be willing to harm the loggers themselves, for the sake of nature and trees. How is this different from al Qaeda? How are the killers of abortion docs different? We're all human beings, and human nature is, well, human nature wherever you go. Just because a person is a Muslim who plants train bombs doesn't mean that you have nothing in common with them.