[extropy-chat] Islamofacism [was: The Force of Human Freedom]

[Dan Clemmensen]

Greg Burch wrote:

>I'll certainly acknowledge there are significant differences between the threat of old-style secular fascism in the 1930s and islamofascism in the 1970s-20??, but I have concluded that we stand in an analogous situation in terms of the world's willingness to wake up to and deal with the threat.
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It's possible that we are using the wrong analogy. Islam is a very broad 
religion. I suspect Islam today is much more analogous to Catholicism in 
the 16th century than it is to fascism in the 20th..

One of the ugliest aspects of Catholicism in the 16th was the Spanish 
inquisition. By today's standards the Inquisition was every bit as evil 
as the fascism of the 20th, but I think is makes a much better analogy. 
There is no body of "good fascists" as far as most of us are concerned: 
The fascist system may have been theoretically good in some ways (I 
doubt it) but every actual instance ended in what I think of as evil.

By contrast, Catholicism in the 16th, in many of its manifestations, was 
a force for good. in other manifestations, most notably the Inquisition, 
it was a force for evil.

I see Islam the same way. Throughout is history, in many of its 
manifestations it was and is a force for good. In other manifestations, 
notably Al-Qaida, it is a force for evil.

Let's pick our analogies, and our battles, with care.

Note: I'm an Atheist. I think that most dogmas, religious and secular, 
lead to non-rational conclusions and are dangerous. But as a practical 
matter, not all groups that adhere to a particular dogma are irrational 
in the same way, so some groups are more dangerous than others.