When I Was In Primary School...

[sandman]

....there was this kid named Jodie. Jodie was....odd. When something would upset him, he would proceed to self-mutilate. Sometimes he would claw wildly at his face, sometimes he would smash his head against the wall. Once he began to stab at his thighs with a pencil.

Jodie was clearly mentally ill, and it wasn't long before the outbursts became so serious that he was institutionalized. Eventually the doctors discovered a medication regimen that got his psychotic and dangerous behaviors under control, but Jodie never returned to regular school. He was in and out of hospitals and institutions as his illness waxed and waned, but his trigger was always the same: he would get frustrated, angry, or upset, and his first impulse would be violent self-destruction. I learned a few years back that Jodie took his own life, and while I was saddened by the news, I was not surprised.

And then it occurred to me today, isn't Jodie's behavior the exact same thing that is wracking the Muslim communities in Afghanistan right now? Some Korans are burned along with violent, extremist literature confiscated from prisoners, and the entire nation just loses its shit overnight. Rioting in the streets. Burning buildings and vehicles. More than a dozen Afghanis have been killed in the rioting, which shows no sign of stopping. Every time it does seem to be calming down, the people head into the nearest Mosque and come out an hour later whipped right back up into a Jodie-style self-destructive frenzy.

And this is far from the first or only outburst of this kind in the Middle East. Is the entire Muslim community over there certifiably insane? I don't know if the fault lies with something inherent in the actual belief structure of Islam or if this is an example of the religious leadership cannibalizing their own followers in the pursuit of power and influence, but this seems pretty common now days.

I know that if a bunch of Bibles were confiscated and burned in the USA a lot of people would go apeshit over it. They would scream and moan and complain, they would go on Fox News and explain how it was the end of American cultural independence, blah blah blah. But what they wouldn't do is hit the streets after church on Sunday and kill a whole bunch of their fellow Christians while burning down the YMCA and the rec center. I just don't understand the logic.

It's like I'm watching an entire nation of Jodies and it scares the shit out of me.

[m52nickerson]

It's like a whole bunch of Muslim countries heard about the European Dark Ages and said, "fuck it, that seems like a damn good idea.  Look they almost de-invented fire."

Sad thing is it's not going to change until more people in those countries fight back against such extremism.

[largeham]

There are differences between what is going in Afghanistan and the hypothetical response in America to Bible-burnings.

Afghanistan has been under an unpopular occupation for over ten years, under a coalition where most of the troops are not Muslim, many troops are quite racist against Muslims and many leading members of the coalition are religious extremists themselves.

[Art Vandelay]

To be fair, that behaviour isn't unique to Muslims, but emotional, undereducated people in general. Take the recent London riots, the less recent Paris riots and even less recent (think 2004) Macquarie Fields riots here in Australia, in which a bunch of complete and utter moron destroyed their own neighbourhood over a car-jacker who crashed and got himself killed in a police chase. Basically, when an injustice is perceived by people of questionable intelligence and they get themselves into a mob frenzy, this is the standard end result, regardless of religion or what the apparent injustice involves.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

[MadCatTLX]

It's like a whole bunch of Muslim countries heard about the European Dark Ages and said, "fuck it, that seems like a damn good idea.  Look they almost de-invented fire."

Sad thing is it's not going to change until more people in those countries fight back against such extremism.

But didn't fighting extremism start this?

[Lithp]

It's probably a number of factors. It is worth noting that the area was more civilized than we were around the time of the dark ages, & some countries are quite sane. You say that a large number of Christians wouldn't riot like that? Probably, but that's partly because they know somewhere that they don't really have it that bad. Certainly, the tendency for that kind of insane behavior exists in some groups of Christians, & if the United States was as unstable as Saudi Arabia, that number may be considerably larger.

[sandman]

Very interesting thoughts, guys. Thank you for the contribution.

[m52nickerson]

To be fair, that behaviour isn't unique to Muslims, but emotional, undereducated people in general. Take the recent London riots, the less recent Paris riots and even less recent (think 2004) Macquarie Fields riots here in Australia, in which a bunch of complete and utter moron destroyed their own neighbourhood over a car-jacker who crashed and got himself killed in a police chase. Basically, when an injustice is perceived by people of questionable intelligence and they get themselves into a mob frenzy, this is the standard end result, regardless of religion or what the apparent injustice involves.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Your right Art, it is not just Muslims.  It is as you put it emotional, undereducated.  Right now Muslim countries seem to have an abundance of people that fit that bill.   

But didn't fighting extremism start this?

It did not start it, but fighting the extremism has to be done by the people in those countries, not by outsiders.

[Old Viking]

Once again I must offer my sure-fire peace plan for the entire Middle East.  Give every man, woman and child a pound of colored beads.  Tell them that if they're nice they will get another pound the following year.  Done!

[Witchyjoshy]

Once again I must offer my sure-fire peace plan for the entire Middle East.  Give every man, woman and child a pound of colored beads.  Tell them that if they're nice they will get another pound the following year.  Done!

Well that's condesce...

wait, colored beads?

I've been nice this year *tailwags*

[Podkayne]

To be fair, that behaviour isn't unique to Muslims, but emotional, undereducated people in general. Take the recent London riots, the less recent Paris riots and even less recent (think 2004) Macquarie Fields riots here in Australia, in which a bunch of complete and utter moron destroyed their own neighbourhood over a car-jacker who crashed and got himself killed in a police chase. Basically, when an injustice is perceived by people of questionable intelligence and they get themselves into a mob frenzy, this is the standard end result, regardless of religion or what the apparent injustice involves.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Well put.

Cronula riots too. Uneducated people and a rabble rouser.

[D Laurier]

I would suggest giving peasants the right to own and cultivate land, and legalizing skilled trades.
Allow the sale of domesticly produced food, without imposing taxes or tribute.
Currently on Afghanistan most food is provided by foreign aid agencys. and suplimented with garbage retrieved from the dumpsters of foreign army bases in Afghanistan.
Most farmland in Afghanistan is either paved over by foreign occupiers, or full of opium poppys, and guarded by foreign troops to keep natives away.
Also restore the authority of local tribal leaders.

[MadCatTLX]

I would suggest giving peasants the right to own and cultivate land, and legalizing skilled trades.
Allow the sale of domesticly produced food, without imposing taxes or tribute.
Currently on Afghanistan most food is provided by foreign aid agencys. and suplimented with garbage retrieved from the dumpsters of foreign army bases in Afghanistan.
Most farmland in Afghanistan is either paved over by foreign occupiers, or full of opium poppys, and guarded by foreign troops to keep natives away.
Also restore the authority of local tribal leaders.

I don't think tribal leaders are the best government *looks at Mogadishu, Somalia*.

[Sylvana]

Also restore the authority of local tribal leaders.

Most of what you said is good advice, but giving authority to the tribal leaders is the worst idea ever. All throughout Africa undereducated people are whipped up into violent frenzies against their legitimate democratically elected leader, but tribal authorities.

The problem starts and ends with under-education. Too many people are too emotional and really do not understand the bigger picture. They will never own land and will never have any kind of wealth. They will never have a skilled job and will live in squalor for the rest of their life. These people desperately need to be educated and trained and repeatedly explained to how things work. They need to learn that their violent actions hurt themselves more than the person they think they are angry with. Unfortunately people who are woefully undereducated, pride themselves on their ignorance and will gladly follow an emotional leader who uses them as expendable meat sacks than someone who will educate them and allow them to uplift their lives.

[Jack Bauer]

When a 'mob' forms there is a peculiar synergy and the 'mob mentality' prevails. People behave in a barbaric way, they commit acts they would never dream of committing as a group of individuals.

One of my nightmare scenarios is being caught up within a mindless mob...