Let's Win the War of Ideas

Submitted by Dave, Dec 7, 2017 at 18:12

Borrowing an idea that I have read from Raymond Ibrahim, it may be that more widespread literacy, coupled with the ready availability of Islamic sources on the internet and in the form of mass-produced books, has led to a more doctrinaire practice of Islam. This idea appears to have two main dependencies: One, is that in the old days few people actually read the sources, thanks to illiteracy and the relative inaccessibility of the source material, inducing a benevolent neglect of the negatives in Islam. The other factor would be the assumption that the Islamic sources encourage violence and intolerance, so the more closely they are followed, the more adherents' behavior reflects the sources. I tend to favor this theory based on observation from rulers such as Erdogan, a strict Islamist who broke with Turkey's secularism, the horrific actions of Islamist groups, as well as from reading about the violent actions of many new converts to Islam.

A constructive lesson from this is that Islamism could be effectively countered by making widely available a more tolerant and compelling view of life, preferably in a concise and easily understood format. Recall that Communism had its Manifesto, and Nazism had Mein Kampf.

What works for the bad guys can work for the good guys.

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