25 June 2010
Islamism vs. Secularism
As described by Pankaj Mishra in his survey article, “Islamismism,” in the June 7, 2010, New Yorker, Ayaan Hirsi Ali symbolizes the problem of disorientation caused by major philosophical shifts in a person’s thought patterns. Her capture by Western civilization, most emphatically through her collaboration with Theo van Gogh and its tragic apotheosis when he was assassinated, is in fact a rapture that mirrors the mindless conversion of other seemingly confirmed members of Western culture to unquestioning belief in fundamental Islamism. Take, for example, the personal histories of Faisal Shahzad, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Washington, D.C. and Buffalo, N.Y conspirators, etc. They all fell prey to seductive preaching by extremist evangelists of jihad and abandoned, even demonized, their former American lifestyles in search of an inner peace that came only in the form of bitter rejection.
Just as extremist adherence to a religious belief often leads to antisocial behavior and criminal violence, so extreme renunciation of spiritual faith creates antagonisms that invite violent responses from those who place little importance on material values. “Live and let live” is a better guide for peaceful coexistence in today’s borderless world than martial promotion of the tenets either of religionist creeds or of Randian rationalism.
As described by Pankaj Mishra in his survey article, “Islamismism,” in the June 7, 2010, New Yorker, Ayaan Hirsi Ali symbolizes the problem of disorientation caused by major philosophical shifts in a person’s thought patterns. Her capture by Western civilization, most emphatically through her collaboration with Theo van Gogh and its tragic apotheosis when he was assassinated, is in fact a rapture that mirrors the mindless conversion of other seemingly confirmed members of Western culture to unquestioning belief in fundamental Islamism. Take, for example, the personal histories of Faisal Shahzad, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Washington, D.C. and Buffalo, N.Y conspirators, etc. They all fell prey to seductive preaching by extremist evangelists of jihad and abandoned, even demonized, their former American lifestyles in search of an inner peace that came only in the form of bitter rejection.
Just as extremist adherence to a religious belief often leads to antisocial behavior and criminal violence, so extreme renunciation of spiritual faith creates antagonisms that invite violent responses from those who place little importance on material values. “Live and let live” is a better guide for peaceful coexistence in today’s borderless world than martial promotion of the tenets either of religionist creeds or of Randian rationalism.
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