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Originally Posted by NavyNJ
Have seen that video (of the young lady expressing her thoughts on Islam, Muslims, etc.) before and found it touched on some valid points to begin an investigation of the issues being struggled with of late.
For those with a true interest in developing a greater understanding of something societies have struggled with forever, and that has particular application in the last several decades of "Islamic Extremism", take a crack at this (now nearly 50-yr old) work by Eric Hoffer:
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (Perennial Classics): Eric Hoffer: 9780060505912: Amazon.com: Books
In fact, you might even get a lot out of several of the Customer Reviews of the book! Very thorough and insightful in their own right.
This idea of the "True Believer", overlaid with the tenets of Islam, as put forth in the teachings of Muhammed, is a volatile combination of ideology, mantra, consciousness and self-awareness that can lead to much of what we are seeing and experiencing in current times. Tough subject to get wrapped around, to be sure! |
That's a very good book. I had a friend at the University of Denver Graduate School of Librarianship and Information Management who was getting an advanced degree-- a MA in Librarianship like me. He was from the University of Mosul and had a brother in the Republican Guard or something like that. This was in 1983-1984. After he graduated (?) he went back to Iraq. His letters to me became more and more radicalized so by 1986 we broke any correspondence off. His family relationships especially with the brother in the military made him into a true believer for Saddam Hussein.
ISIS has had control of Mosul for a year or more and they looted that library.
ISIS Destroys Iraq's University of Mosul I have no idea what happened to that ex-friend I had. It is not a wise idea to have any contact with people who live in ISIS controlled areas.
My Iraqi ex-friend was very traditional and I was never allowed to be even in the same room as his wife. The other Muslim/Arabs from various different Middle Eastern countries who were studying various subjects at the University of Denver were all quite different from one another.
I did get an introduction to the Muslim religion from this group of Arabs. It is hard to overgeneralize about them though. Their families, ambitions, etc. had a big impact on making them quite different from one another.
The Kurd jokes really bothered me when I was around them.
And my ex-Iraqi friend's dislike of dogs-- which he thought were way too dirty-- also bugged me a great deal.