tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3503986435514614182.post5503452929991381062..comments2024-02-18T23:52:40.165-08:00Comments on Citizen Warrior: Can Any Nice, Normal Muslim Suddenly Turn Into a Jihadist?Citizen Warriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06265844262699107352noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3503986435514614182.post-32457412678270890912015-12-15T06:14:15.587-08:002015-12-15T06:14:15.587-08:00Very good, Citizen
The answer lies, I think, in t...Very good, Citizen<br /><br />The answer lies, I think, in the "normal Muslim" aspect. A normal Muslim is raised never to question, to believe whatever he is told by someone who appears to be more knowledgeable/high status/authoritative than he is in his society and, above all, to remain loyal to his community since he would not be able to survive outside it.<br /><br />This leads to an <b>external locus of evaluation</b> which has him following others and caring far too much about what they may think, rather than thinking things through and acting sensibly for himself and not out of the engineered high emotions from mosque pulpits after Friday sermons, which so often lead to mindless riots.<br /><br />There is also rarely room in the normal Muslim's life for a reflective space where he can ask himself, for example, when faced with an order from a mosque pulpit to show his rage against kufr - "Do I really want to do this?" Islam does not encourage self-reflection (inimical as it is to the sort of blind following it depends on to wreak havoc) and the normal Muslim probably has probably never been asked how he feels or what he thinks about anything.<br /><br />This is not to excuse the idiotic/brutal behaviour as a result of such upbringing, it is rather to try to explain it. <br /><br />We in the west make a great mistake and put ourselves in even greater danger by perceiving these people through a western world view.Babsnoreply@blogger.com