Some thoughts from a former extremist about long-term solutions to tackle extremist fundamentalism. 1) Powerful Ideology. In my own life, I have witnessed myself adopt an extremist, fundamentalist ideology. My ideological condition was such that I sincerely believed most of the people in the world were going to a bad place when they died and they deserved to go there because of their own ideology and behavior. I became sufficiently passionate within my ideology that I thought in many other extreme ways, and would have performed any behavior that I believed was encouraged by my ideology. That is all because I believed my thoughts and behavior offered me eternal security and reward as long as it was congruent with my resident ideology. 2) Potency of human condition. I now know that there were myriad cognitive operations, most of them subconscious, at play that acted upon me (and always will) as they do us all. These cognitive operations (a) helped the ideology appeal to me, consciously and subconsciously, (b) allowed me to only see information that confirmed my resident ideology, (c) caused me to even consciously reject contrary ideas, (d) and even caused me to feel emotional discomfort when confronted with contrary information. Since I was ignorant to both these specific operations at play and their combined potential effect, I effectively became a victim to them, even a slave to them. In fact, many ideologies like the one I adopted even use the words subject, slave, and servant. Separate from the cognitive operations, the ideology itself was even armed with mechanisms that caused me to dismiss contrary, or secular sources or information. Effectively, I was a host to a viral ideology. (hat tip to Sloan Ahrens for succinctly articulating this condition from the perspective of the virus) Note: My description of my condition is only that; it is not intended to convey/assign any judgement of truth or fiction to the ideology itself. I leave truth-judgments up to the reader. 3) Remedy and escape. I was able to escape my ideological bondage thanks to a few key exposures/influences. (a) Close, personal relationships with individuals I cared deeply for and respected who shared my ideology but promoted a more tolerant, non-fundamentalist interpretation/application. (empathy + ideological reconciliation) (b) Meaningful philosophical discussion that challenged me to reconcile my ideologys tenants and implications with agreeable secular values (intellectualism + ideological reconciliation) (c) Societal promotion of tolerance coupled with open-disapproval toward bigotry and intolerance (d) All of the above + Time. Experiencing 1, 2, and 3 has given me appreciation for several things, but two that are pertinent to how I interpret solving the problem of fundamentalist extremism are: the human condition and the power of social influences. A brief study of any ideologys history reveals that an individuals interpretation and application changes over time. That has been my experience and Ive seen this in others. Our exposure to people and ideas affect how we will interpret in the future. In my experience, point 3.d was crucial because my cognitive operations didnt allow me to change my mind *during* any conversation or argument that challenged my resident ideology. Rather, a week or two later my mind would relax its defensive posture enough to allow me to honestly evaluate the merit of any challenge--and thats when the real ideological reconciliation began, which would ultimately erode the hold of extremism from my mind. How do I interpret and apply what Ive just described to nations that have extremist inhabitants? If it isnt already clear, I reason that we should renew efforts to (a) encourage all people to promote tolerant interpretations of [insert ideology]; this also means to stop giving credit to extremist interpretations (b) encourage fellow ideological-adherents to invest time to patiently challenge, explain, and promote tolerant interpretations to their ideological brethren (c) encourage more social activism to accomplish (a) and (b). Everyone has buy-in and can be an agent of change in their social circles of influence. (d) do all of the above with patience and recognition of the human condition.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 18:51:21 +0000
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