In today’s email, a friend has sent me some photographs of angry Muslims demonstrating on the street in what appears to be London. They are carrying signs, glowering menacingly, brandishing their fists, and shouting. The messages they carry are clear enough, if rather unimaginatively monotonous:
SLAY THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM. BUTCHER THOSE WHO MOCK ISLAM. BEHEAD THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM. ISLAM WILL DOMINATE THE WORLD. EXTERMINATE THOSE WHO SLANDER ISLAM. EUROPE YOU WILL PAY. YOUR 9/11 IS ON IT’S [sic] WAY. BE PREPARED FOR THE REAL HOLOCAUST.
In one of the pictures, a policeman stands nearby, dutifully making sure that the protestors are kept safe from harm as they cry out for Western blood. This adds a note of irony to my favorite placard of the lot, which says FREEDOM GO TO HELL.
Here are the photos:
My friend, who is a highly intelligent and civilized person, could hardly take this seriously, and wrote:
I’ll just say that I do find it a little perplexing why people would actually get out on a street waving signs saying such crazy things, which tend to make them look ridiculous… “Behead Those who Insult Islam”; I mean, really!!
My friend is right. This is crazy. What, indeed, could get hold of a person and make him behave in this way? The answer, of course, as I have suggested before, is a highly evolved and aggressive mind-virus, a particularly infectious and dangerous idea.
A lot of people roll their eyes when the subject of “memes” is comes up, but surely nobody will dispute the power of ideas to take root in minds, and to alter the minds they inhabit, sometimes quite radically so. And surely it is reasonable to imagine that some ideas are better than others at prompting the minds they inhabit to install copies of themselves in other people’s minds.
Once you have all this in place, an evolutionary process can get underway. Ideas will, of course, vary as they are transmitted from mind to mind; some variants will be more memorable, more persuasive, more easily transmissible than others, and the ones that do the best job of getting themselves copied from mind to mind, so long as they do not interfere with the survival of the host, will tend to spread.
Keep in mind that in a situation like this there are, from a Darwinian viewpoint, two different interests here: the reproductive fitness of the host, and the fitness of the idea itself. They do not necessarily coincide. It is entirely possible to have idea-complexes that are highly appealing and infectious, but which actually diminish the fitness of the host. An example we’ve seen before in this context, I think, is that of the Shakers, who forswore parenthood. The idea was that they would replenish their numbers by recruitment, but it didn’t work out all that well — and now there are no more Shakers. (Had the idea been infectious enough, presumably there would now be no more people.)
But if these idea-complexes actually increase the fitness of the host in some way — perhaps by inclining their hosts to work together for mutual support and defense — then they can do very well indeed, and over time can be tuned and adapted to a high degree of stability and robustness. What we see in these photographs is the result of this process.
Now of course it is not just orthodox Islam that works like this, nor only religion; indeed all of human culture propagates, perpetuates, and modifies itself in this way, in an ongoing evolutionary process. And in Western culture we have an example of another powerful and adaptive complex of ideas, one that has transformed human existence over the past couple of millennia, and which has been, in its flowering since the Renaissance, an utterly unprecedented engine of creativity and prosperity. It too has been evolving, adapting, modifying — and very conspicuously so in the past half-century.
So: here we have two powerful and highly refined architectures for the human mind. Both are still with us, and have occupied as many human brains as they have, because they not only do a good job of replicating themselves into other minds, but also confer some adaptive benefit on the people whose minds they organize. In isolation both have done very well. They have confronted each other with varying results throughout history, but until recently it has been something of a standoff.
But while the idea-complex evident in these photos has changed very little in the centuries since its appearance on the scene — a good criterion of a successful design — the Western cultural architecture has been mutating very, very rapidly lately. In particular, the expansion, in the ethical realm, of the circle of tolerance and inclusion has been greatly enlarged, a trend that is generally regarded as moral progress. What once were seen as natural rankings of culture and race, with white Europeans naturally on top, and naturally in the driver’s seat, are now regarded as benighted atavisms. What gives our culture the right, after all, to make such judgments? The ghastly spectacle of mechanized war, and the philosophical movements of the 20th century, called into question all valuations of any sort whatsoever, and the unthinkable horrors of the Holocaust made the case against racial, religious, and cultural hubris even stronger.
But these mutations have had another effect as well: they have weakened Western culture’s immune system to the point that it is no longer effective against certain sorts of foreign intrusion. The tolerance and multiculturalist aversion to judgment that are the hallmark of our morally evolved society have become a critical, and potentially lethal, vunerability; but so sturdy is the memetic framework that buttresses these attitudes — so firmly bound, now, are the notions of tolerance and inclusion to our moral intuitions — that we are unable to resist the advances of an alien organism that wants not to become a part of Western culture, but to overwhelm it from within.
In other words: our more recent cultural mutations may well have been — as are most mutations — not beneficial, but maladaptive.
Our society is not without its defenses, though, and chief among them is the power of the written and spoken word. If Western culture can be thought to have an immune system, its T-cells are the communicators of ideas: its authors, broadcasters, journalists, film-makers, songwriters, cartoonists, comedians, and so on. But in a tactic of remarkable metaphorical similarity to the action of the AIDS virus, these are exactly the targets that are singled out for attack:
BUTCHER THOSE WHO MOCK ISLAM. EXTERMINATE THOSE WHO SLANDER ISLAM.
A two-pronged campaign of legal and physical intimidation has been frighteningly effective, at least beyond America’s borders, in muting these necessary voices. One need not go far to look for examples: the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, and the murder of Theo van Gogh; the indictments of Geert Wilders in Holland, and Mark Steyn in Canada. The Saudi lawsuit against Rachel Ehrenfeld. The Danish cartoon riots. This is a brilliant strategy, and it is working. Secular Western nations are now, effectively, enforcing Muslim anti-blasphemy laws. Someone has said that so illiberal are European policies regarding “hate speech” that freedom of speech is now taken to mean that you can’t shout “Fire!” in a crowded theater even if there’s a fire.
How will it all end? There are many of us who will man the ramparts, but I am not optimistic. Many species have gone extinct over the long history of life on Earth, and there are no guarantees for the survival of Western civilization. It may be that in this ongoing Darwinian struggle, the memetic organism that occupies the fundamentalist Muslim mind has, in the long run, the more robust design. I certainly hope it doesn’t.
33 Comments
I know you won’t like this, Malcolm, but where you see the (possible) evolutionary death of Western civilization, I see that same civilization operating at an optimal level of fitness. That picture of the cop by the whacko – that’s the very definition of freedom.
I’m not convinced that evolutionary processes happen in human minds, societies, and history in quite the neat way you’ve described here, even metaphorically. But it does make for some fascinating reading. Thanks.
A better example than the Shakers for powerful mind-memes might be the Roman Catholic Church – an institution of celibates perpetuating itself for centuries. Of course, unlike the Shakers, priests actively encourage folks to reproduce … so maybe not what you mean.
Court, fitness in the sense I’m using it here is only about survival. I don’t think the trend, in Europe at least, is encouraging.
The Catholic Church is indeed one of the more majestic meme-complexes ever assembled, but as the celibacy only affects the clergy, it is not self-extinguishing in the way the Shaker tradition was.
Perhaps Court, you might contemplate a little trip away from Thailand and go for a visit to the Swat Valley. As you suggest, waving signs that call for various sorts of “disagreeables and other sorts of whatnot” might be “the very definition of freedom” but I’d simply suggest that very scenic trip. Take your camera. Take your understandings of freedom. You might pack a little liberty in with the rest of your baggage.
Don’t worry about keeping the rest of us informed along your journey. I’m certain we’ll see your “progress” on some jihadi website.
Anyone ever noticed that we let neo-Nazis, the KKK, and even Creationists walk about protesting saying the most ridiculous, offensive, and dangerous things? If some group ever gets dangerous enough, it is taken care of, almost invariably. Europe is not about to be overrun by Islam, however much some Muslims might wish it to.
I’d stop fear mongering. Better to actively begin making Muslim apostates.
Well, last time you dropped by, Jack, it was simply to jeer at the idea that there is anything to worry about, and to call me an idiot. Now you are simply declaring that there is no problem.
This post is not about neo-Nazis, or the KKK, neither of which pose the slightest demographic threat. If you can’t see that the situation in Europe is completely different, then I think there is no point in discussing this with you.
Malcolm, I’ve seen most of these photos before, and they are a couple of years old . . . not that this is especially reassuring to point out. I suppose that radical Muslims are not against recycling posters.
One of the most powerful memes in the West is individualism, which is fundamental to our Western concept of liberty, expression, and personal development. Ironically, this meme sometimes leaves the West vulnerable to threats posed by groups that emphasize ideological conformity.
Muslims in Europe often settle into religious enclaves that enforce cultural mores and religious values and express hostility toward non-Muslims. Europeans confront these enclaves as individuals, feel relatively powerless, and simply move away. The result is what is sometimes referred to as ‘Balkanization.’
I consider individualism a more fulfilling meme than collectivism, but it faces a profound demographic challenge in Europpe these days.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Hey Jack,
Now I’m not excusing anything here but when was the last time you heard of the KKK or the neo-Nazis (and the occasional clinic bombing by some Creationist nut-case) carrying out what they run around spouting?
“Fear mongering?” Apparently you know “Jack-Shit” Jack. Appropriate I suppose.
See if you can catch the same flight for the scenic visit with Court. I admit, perhaps I was a bit hasty in simply advising Court to pack a little liberty in his baggage without also advising him to do his best to avoid exposing it to Customs at the border.
Tourists to Swat lose their heads too often going through Customs.
Well, good news after all. Alliances.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/02/waziristan_taliban_a.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1GrdTakvl8&eurl=about:blank&feature=player_embedded
Some bad language (and apologies to Malcolm) not all grammitically [sic] correct.
Just this one page. One page, everybody’s a fast reader. And of course, there’s that “older post” button.
I’d suggest going bottom to top but I know there’s Jack and Court.
I don’t know if anything’s right or wrong, mainly ’cause I’m well on my way to getting very drunk. The only thing I would say, if that “snap, crackle, pop” was only heard when you ate breakfast, hell, good for you.
http://theunlikelysoldier.blogspot.com/
Feeling reasonably comfortable is much different than being comfortably numb.
JK, posting comments when drunk is generally bad form, and in here I’d appreciate everyone refraining from name-calling.
We’ll have a look at your links.
I apologize in advance in the case that I’ve called someone a bad name. I didn’t mean to. I have been wrong at times and expect I will probably repeat same. I will make one promise even though I cannot keep the spirit of the first two (calling anyone a bad name – being wrong) I’m often wrong.
Sometimes I may not recognize I’ve called someone a bad name. But heck, I’m from Arkansas. I was born to be stupid.
I meant to do the one thing, I admit, I may’ve done the other. I’m the first to admit.
Dumbass? I’m uncertain whether I’m the first – however I’ll be the first to admit it.
I think there is a big difference between fundamentalist Islam and orthodox Islam. Just as there is a huge difference between fundamentalist Christianity and The Orthodox Churches of Christianity.
I have read the Bible through a few times and the Koran once plus some few scans to re-address issues. My read is very different than yours will be. All books get argued over – just visit any book club!
Interpretations vary from individual to mosque to sect etc…as is the case in all religions.
The bulk of Muslems I know do not seem to hold nor to follow any sort of hateful notions about western culture or Christianity, at least not any more so than some westerners who express fears about the hateful fundamentalism of a few Baptist churches…
Pat, those aren’t the ones I’m worried about here, although even “moderate” Islam is, I think, at odds with Western culture, and cause for demographic concern. I also think that Islam, uniquely so amongst religions, is a self-renewing font of dangerous fundamentalism.
I have no fear of any “demographic” changes – What stays in harmony with change lasts. What goes by goes by. If Christianity goes by before Islam goes by that may be worse than if Islam goes by first, but any way it seems more likely to me that things will happen to make such distinctions meaningless, all in good time.
I see little difference between the dangers of fundamentalist Christianity and Islam. I see more worry for our general lack of harmonious interaction – be it with natural cycles or each other whatever the demographic…
But coming from fear is a poor stance for any response.
No fear of any demographic changes? The only differences between Holland and Waziristan, aside from topography, are demographic and cultural. Can’t you understand why a Dutchman might want Holland not to become another Waziristan?
No difference between fundamentalist Christianity and fundamentalist Islam? I haven’t seen any fundamentalist Christians doing any of the following lately:
– Flying airliners into office buildings
– Beheading helpless journalists
– Committing “honor killings” of their daughters after they have been raped
– Massacring hotel guests
– Stoning adulteresses
– Executing apostates
– Burning the faces of schoolgirls with acid
– Cutting throats of same
– Arranging for women to be raped so that they will be willing to become suicide bombers
– Blowing themselves up in marketplaces
– Slaughtering missionaries
I make no defense of fundamentalist Christianity, of course, but it’s hard to take you seriously here, Pat. Just what are you imagining that will, “in good time”, make all such distinctions meaningless? A supernova?
I must add that in some cases fear is an eminently rational basis for action. We fear tornados, so we build shelters and warning systems. We fear sharks, so we get out of the water when they’re around. When you don’t fear something that’s genuinely dangerous, bad things can happen.
I hope to become food when I die. If it is shark food – thats’ ok too. If I’m foolish enough to go into shark infested waters -my bad …
The history of Christianity’s brutality is just being caught up to by the backward Muslems. They are just late bloomers I guess.
The point here is that Europe has been foolish to let the sharks in, and that perhaps it ought to be doing something to usher them out.
Yes, of course, Christianity has a brutal history, as does Islam, and pretty much every religion and culture on Earth. We’re talking about the present, and the future, here.
Time lines seem unimportant. The Islamic world is working from a long memory and evokes the Crusades almost as often as it does the demonization of the USA & the Hebrew nation…
That Christianity is ebbing seems just natural… It was thrown together as a political construct by Constantine. Now it is desolving. Islam being a much younger faith (also based on “The Book”… just which book is that? ) – with a more modern prophet is only having its turn.
Take heart Mac, The Ba’ hais may come to exert more power in the future and mellow out the whole situation. But in the mean time you have allowed the tactic of terror to upset yr apple cart. The Islamic hate-mongers have scared you into being reactionary. And many others into abject fear and supplications that undermine recent European norms.
Ranting will only give them laughs and courage. You are coming from a place that is fearful and it gives them strength.
Pat, there are two ways one can respond to a threat: stand up to it, or surrender. Europe seems to be choosing the latter course.
I’m not ranting, nor am I cowering in fear; I am pointing out that there is a genuine existential threat here, and that Europe needs to be courageous enough to stand up for itself. If that’s “reactionary”, then fine. Some things deserve a reaction.
Here is my reaction: check these guys out for a different sort of Islam- (and I know a possible 20-25 % of all Islam may be more radical and hateful…)
I just see strengthening these Sufis as a better way to go than poking sticks at those we may have reasons to despise…
http://nurmuhammad.com/
Pat, I have no beef with Sufi mystics (I have had a long-term interest in their literature and esoteric methods myself), and as I have said I over and over I am well aware that there are plenty of Muslims who do not pose a threat of violence (although I must remind you that fundamentalist violence is not the only worrisome issue here). I don’t know what on earth you could possibly have in mind about “strengthening” the Sufis as an effective foreign policy, as if an army of Sufis is suddenly going to march into the Pakistani tribal areas, or reverse the demographic death of Europe.
None of this is about “poking sticks”, or “despising”. The point is to identify a real threat as a real threat.
Albert Einstein says –
“The fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who — in their grudge against traditional religion as the ‘opium of the masses’ — cannot hear the music of the spheres.”
I believe that fanatical Muslems & Christians are also deaf to such hymnal bliss…
Yes, this is one of the quotes that are often cited by believers to try to show that Einstein was one of them. He wasn’t.
Malcom,
These pictures are fake! It shows that you are a pig posting garbage like that. This should be reported as hate provoking message.
Fake? If so, I had no idea. They certainly express an all-too-familiar sentiment.
“Reported”? To whom, exactly?
Fake! and posted by you. That is fact 1. You didn’t know? that is a lie because they are obviously, screaming out, loudly fake!! the person who did them (assuming is not you) is an amateur who is just got hold of a cheap software. That is fact 2. Reported to law enforcements as this goes under hate provoking crimes. You are posting something that is a complete lie to provoke people to have a reaction. “all-too-familiar sentiment” another lie, as i have never seen anything like this in radical Islamic states let alone Europe. Muslims around the world, Just so you know believe that 911 is a crime and it has nothing to do with Islam. They even say that Bin ladin is a CIA agent, or that it is an inside job..etc.. Muslims regardless of their views don’t post something stupid like “Europe you are next in EUROPE!!”
That is more like how you think, and not Muslims! The facts got disarrayed here and i lost count.
You are hardly advancing your case here, Mabruk, by telling me that Muslims around the world believe that 9/11 had nothing to do with Islam. This angry denial of reality, and apparent refusal on the part of the world’s Muslim community to look inward or accept any responsibility for trying to curb the barbaric excesses of their radical co-religionists, is an important part of the problem.
Yes, the facts do indeed seem to be getting “disarrayed” here. You have that part right, at least.
Dude, you really need to take a break from your own radicalism. Stay away from starbuks. Now i am your problem? Would you rather if i kept quite and let post your garbage on the net. Muslims around the world are FREE! to think the way they want. Do you want to control that too? Muslims believe that this action is not part of their nature, therefore it must be staged. That is how people feel. Neither you nor your pic-doctrine or Zionist supplier of material can do anything about it. because it is how the 20% of world population feel. To them it is kind odd, that a caved man can pull off an act of this sophistication. Why don’t look at all the literature about the (911, an inside job) The other thing, Malcom, i really do not need to advance any case to you! I am not in charge of your education. You however, need to stop posting fake pics. and start posting (Accurate) pics of GAZA being burned alive! Remember, you can hate as much as you can, the constitution gives you that, but you cannot post fake and dumb pics. to advance your bosses’ ideology. That is not good for anybody. The disarray is contagious!
Fine, Mabruk. I’ll be sure to talk to my “bosses” about that.
Thanks for your comments.
Here is what jewish radicals say:
http://madzionist.blogspot.com/
Good post. I learn something totally new
and challenging on websites I stumbleupon on a daily basis.
It will always be interesting to read articles from other
writers and use something from their web sites.