It's been a while since i listened to glenn Loury with his friend John McWhorter, not sure how I lost track of them, eyesight problems plus computer glitches and so on, probably also memory loss which I'd rather not acknowledge but there it is. Of course I like them becuse so much of what they have to say is compatible with my conservative mindset, although here and there they say things I find way too liberal or leftist for me, not suco much Loury as McWhorter. Wnyway I've been enjoying their thoughtful discussions again.
And of course something came up that triggeredmy Gootta Answer That One reflex, no deep thinking here, just the usual woopsie that's wrong needs to be answered. Thoughts about the guy who attacked Slman Rushei on stage. McWhorter compared the mentality behid that act with wokeist irrationality and the right wing conviction that the last election was stolen, and in general any mindset he considers to be set in congrete and impervious to reason. Loury more or less concurred as far as I could tell, he didn't get into detail in his responses.
Itt always rattles me when peopole speak of Islamic jidahist actions as if they were only one kind of Islamism, or in any way a cultural or temporal phenomenon, as in an expression of "modernity" as they characterized it. or McWhorter did. Memory bad, not sure it was McWhorter. Sigh. But I just don't get how they overlook the screaming fact that such an act as the attempted muirder of Rushdie i8s of the ssessence of Islam and not some specialized faction of Islam. Maybe you have to be a cHRISTIAN TO HAVE IT IN THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE. iF YOU'RE A "SECULAR" TYPE THINKER, EVEN THE BEST, YOU ARE GOING TO PROJECT A MENTALITY ON SUCH AN ACT THAT HAS NOTHING WHATEVER TO DO WITH IT.
tHEY USE THE TERM "FUNDAMENTALISM" TOO OF COURASE, AND AS USUAL THERE'S A VAGUE SENSE AT LEAST EVEN WITH THESE THOUGHTFUL MEN THAT THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT FUNDAMENTALISM ITSELF, NO MATTER ITS PHILOSOPHICAL CONTEXT, THAT TENDS TOWARD A SORT OF VIOLENCE. sO iSLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM IS BLURRED WITH cHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISM. iT'S MOST ANNOYING.
fUNDAMENTALISM IS THE CORE COCTRINE, OR CALLIT DOGMA, OF ANY RELIGION OR IDEOLOGY. dOGMA IS THE CODIFICATION OF THE CORE TENETS OF THE DOCTRINE. tHEY ARE FIXED TRUTHS GIVEN BY AN AUTHORITY CONSIDERED TO BE INERRANT. GOD HIMSELF IN THE CASE OF iSLAM AND cHRISTIANITY. oF COURSE SINCE THEY DISAGREE IN THOSE TENETS THEY CAN'T BOTH BE TRUE AND YOU HAVE TO DECISDE BETWEEN THEM OR REJECT BOTH, BUT THESE OUTSIDERS USUALLY DON'T TAKE THAT KIND OF POSITION TOWARD EITHER.
sURE THERE ARE MODERATE mUSLIMS BUT TO BE MODERATE IN THAT CONTEXT MEANS TO REJE CT THE FUNDAMENTYAL TRUTH TENTS OF THE IDEOLOGY. THE FUNDAMENTALS ARE IN FACT SET IN CONCRETE BY THEIR ORIGINA IN THE MIND OF AN INFALLIBLE sOURCE, AND ANY mUSLIM, NO MATTER HOW LIBERAL OR MODERATE, CAN ALWAYS REVERT TO THAT PRIMARY DOGMA, AND THAT IN FACT IS HOW MANY VIOLENT JIHADISTS ARE BORN. tHEY SEE THAT gOD HIMSELF DEMANDED THE KILLING OF THE iNFIDEL AND OVERNIGHT THEY CONVERT TO THE TRUE iSLAM AND BEOMCE ONE OF ITS SOWORDBEARING DEFENDERS. tHE RELIGION ITSELF DICTATES THE KILLING OF THE iNFIDEL, THIS HAS NOTHING WHATEVER TO DO WITH MODERNITY OR CULTURE OR ECONOMIC CONCETS OR PERSONAL ITY OR ANY OF THAT. mAHER SEEMS TO ET IT B UT SO MANY OTHERS DON'T. iT IS iSLAM ITSELF THAT IS THE SOURCE OF JIDHADIST MURDER. iT IS A SATANIC RELIGION. cAN YOU KNOW THAT UNLESS YOU ARE A cHRISTIAN? pROBABLY NOT.
sO THAT TRIGGERED MY BLOGGER REFLEXRT, AND THEN THERE WAS THE COMMENT ABOUT RIGHTWINGERS AS SUPPOSELY SHOWING THTE SAME IRRATIONAL UNREASONING FUNDMANETALIST SORT OF THINKING IN THE CONVICTION THAT THE LAST ELECTION WAS STOLEN i GUESS THEY SINCERELY BELIEVE THAT IT WASN'T SOTOLEN BUT i HAVE TROUBLE FIGURING OUT HOW. i STARTED HERARING ABOUT THE INCIDENTS OF FRAUD LONG BEFORE i HEARD tRUMP HIMSELF SAY ANTYHING ABOUT IT. eVERY DAY i WAS HERARING OF THIS OR THAT WITNESS TO THIS OR THAT SORT OF FRAUD THAT OCCCURRED IN THIS OR THAT PRECINCT, A LOT OF IT VERY SMALL SCALE BUT SOME OF IT AS BIG AS TRUCKLOADS OF FAKE BALLOTS BEHING TRAPORTED FROM OTHER STATES TO BE COUNTED IN THE WEE HOURSE OF THE MORNING AFTER THE WITNESSES HAD GONE HOME. dID NOBODY ELSE HEAR THIS STUFF? wAS IT ONLYH THOSE WHO WERE LISTENING TO THE CONSERVATIVE TALK SHOW HOSTS?
i DON'T KNOW IF IN THE END THE ELECTION WAS WON BY bIDEN OR NOT BUT i CERTAINLY HAD THE STRONG IMPRESSION THAT I WASN'T AN COULDN'T HAVE BEEN FOR MANY REAOSNS. i STILL HAVE THAT IMPRESSION. aND IT WASN'T tRUMP WHO CONVINCED ME OF IT, IT WAS ALL THOSE AFFADAVITS SIGNED BY ALL THOSE WITNESSES IN ALL THOSE PRECINCTIS. AND IT HURTS EVER Y TIME i HEAR SOME NEWSCAST TALK ABOUIT TRUMP'S SUPPOSED ATTEMPT TO OVERTHROW THE ELECTION. wHAT A FOUL LIE. eVEN IF HE IS WRONG, AND THE ELECTION WAS WON FAIRLY BY bIDEN, IT WAS STILL NO ATTEMPT TO OVERTHROW THE ELECTION, IT WAS AN EXPRESSION OF HIS BELIEF THAT HE LOST BECAUSE OF ELECTION FRAUD. iT MAKES MY STOMACH LURCH WHEN i HEAR THAT PHRASE REPEATED OVER AND OVER ON SUPPOSEDLY OBJECTIVE NEWSCASTS, OH FORGET THAT WE ALL KNOW THEY AREN'T OBJECTIVE, ANYWAY, REPEATED OVER AND OVER THATHE ATTEMPTED TO OVERTHROW THE ELECTION. tHE FRAUD GOES SO DEEP THESE DAYS IT HURTS. i MEAN ALL LEVELS OF FRAUD SINCE i STILL SUSPECT THE ELECTION WAS LOST DIUE TO FRAUD, BUT i ALSO MEAN THE FRAUD OF THE DAILY LIES WE HEAR ON THE NEWS BROADCASTS. tO CALL THOSE WHO BELIEVE THE ELECTOIN WAS RIGGED IRRATIONAL AND IMPERVIOUS TO REASON IS DEEP SLANDER.
aT LEAST THEY GOT IT RIGHT ABOUT THE IRRATIONALITY OF THE WOKEISTS.
