Carbizene wrote:Fundamentalists don't change, thats why they are called Fundamentalists, they do lie though as proven by the Brotherhoods lie that they would not run a Presidential candidate.
Thank you Very Much for your post, Carbizene.
IMO people should be very skeptical of fundamentalist organizations, especially ones like the Muslim Brotherhood etc......... Once a reputation is gained, it will continue to attract people who like that sort of thing..... religious policeman wannabes control freaks
Even a change in tactics can be JUST a change in tactics.......... 'instead of violence, we now use the ballot box but we still aim at a society where the BOOK/BOOKS is/are the absolute, to the letter of the law, Law of the Land......... And the first election that we win will be likely the LAST real election..........
If they really want to change.......... at least a name change is in order........... Still best to be suspicious........
This applies to dangerous Christian fanatic movements like Gary North/Rushdoony's Christian Reconstructionism/Christian Dominionism and quasi secular types like as Communists and Nazis as well Muslim fanatics like the Muslim Brotherhood & Al Queda.........
BUT...........
In my experience,
individual Fundamentalists, can and do change. I was once a Christian Fundie
......... many years ago.....
There are other examples, recalling a group called Fundamentalists Anonymous years ago...
Even Muslim Fundamentalists can change..... Recalling a story IIRC about a son of a HAMAS leader who became a Christian..... at last report in hiding for his life..... a reason that Islam is so resistant to change....... Apostates often killed ***........
Sometimes believers go from one Ism to another.........
Other times the intensity abates or is diluted into several pursuits sometimes at odds with each other...**** AND just "real life" itself.......... a job where your job is NOT being a fanatic.....
Erich Hoffer, the Longshoreman Philosopher, has an excellent book, "The True Believer" on the topic of fanatics/fundies.......*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer
Bart D. Erhman is another author useful as an antidote for Christian Fundamentalism....**
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_Ehrman
*
The book analyzes and attempts to explain the motives of the various types of personalities that give rise to mass movements; why and how mass movements start, progress and end; and the similarities between them, whether religious, political, radical or reactionary. As examples, the book often refers to Communism, Fascism, National Socialism, Christianity, Protestantism, and Islam. Hoffer believes that mass movements are interchangeable, that adherents will often flip from one movement to another, and that the motivations for mass movements are interchangeable; that religious, nationalist and social movements, whether radical or reactionary, tend to attract the same type of followers, behave in the same way and use the same tactics, even when their stated goals or values differed.
There have been 23 editions of The True Believer published between 1951 and 2002.
[edit] Summary
Hoffer argues that all mass movements such as fascism, communism, and religion spread by promising a glorious future. To be successful, these mass movements need the adherents to be willing to sacrifice themselves and others for the future goals. To do so, mass movements often glorify the past and devalue the present. Mass movements appeal to frustrated people who are dissatisfied with their current state, but are capable of a strong belief in the future. As well, mass movements appeal to people who want to escape a flawed self by creating an imaginary self and joining a collective whole. Some categories of people who may be attracted to mass movements include poor people, misfits, former soldiers, and people who feel thwarted in their endeavors. Hoffer quotes extensively from leaders of the Nazi and communist parties in the early part of the 20th century, to demonstrate, among other things, that they were competing for adherents from the same pool of people predisposed to support mass movements. Despite the two parties' fierce antagonism, they were more likely to gain recruits from their opposing party than from moderates with no affiliation to either.
The book also explores the behavior of mass movements once they become established (or leave the "active phase"). With their collapse of a communal framework people can no longer defeat the feelings of insecurity and uncertainty by belonging to a compact whole. If the isolated individual lacks vast opportunities for personal advancement, development of talents, and action (such as those found on a frontier), he will seek substitutes. These substitutes would be pride instead of self-confidence, memberships in a collective whole like a mass movement, absolute certainty instead of understanding.
Hoffer does not take an exclusively negative view of "true believers" and the mass movements they begin. Examples he gives of positive true believers are Abraham Lincoln and Gandhi.
** Islam needs many Bart Ehrmans but if they existed they would likely be quickly killed.......... Fun to imagine Bart Simpson trashing various Muslim bad guys going back to ........... Bart's Excellent Adventure......
*** A special reason to oppose Christian Dominionists like Gary North/Rushdoony......... Death to apostates......... I still consider myself a Christian but I have some doubts that North would ........ Could be better for me to be in some but not all Muslim territories than in North territory as long I stuck to gardening and Astronomy and kept my mouth shut about Islam........ even if I got slapped around paying the protection money/Jiyza.......... Recalling Christians fleeing other Christians to Ottoman Turkey....... IIRC east Euro Protestants who became famous for their wild pig/boar hunts.... OTOH what happened to the Armenians......
****For example Gardening, astronomy/space exploration, art, anime/cartoons , photography, computers, fantasy books/role playing games, Buddhism/Kwannon, the internet, pets.........
For the love of G_d, consider you & I may be mistaken.
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