totalitarianism from below

Submitted by Ron Thompson (United States), Apr 15, 2006 at 12:16

It is appalling but not surprising to read from Daniel Pipes that there is growing danger that all of Moslem Egypt's wonderful Ancient Egyptian Pharoanic heritage, in situ and in museums, is at risk of the same wanton and nihilistic destruction that happened to the Buddha statue in Afghanistan, and which has threatened the ruins of Persepolis in Iran since 1979.

Oddly, this fits right in to a perception I've had for decades that Islam essentially brought an age of unending Darkness to the heritage of remarkable civilizations that preceded its cataclysmic impact. Such destruction, however awful, would be but the logical fulfillment of the monotonous totalitarianism of Islamic thought (or rather anti-thought) over the centuries. (I will repeat the suggestion that any enlightened, scientific thought by individuals who happened to be Moslems was in spite of the religion and not because of it. And that the tolerance of Andalusia under the political rule of nominal Moslems was again in spite of the religion rather than because of it)
The title above refers to the seeming fact that while Leninist and Maoist Communism were totalitarianisms largely imposed from above, Islamic totalitarianism is an intellectual and moral plague, that, frighteningly, can come as easily from below as from above.
For instance, in the last week, I have read both Pipes' article about the Islamist from North Carolina (sudden jihad syndrome), and a spate of articles about the behavior and thought of Moussaui in the Alexandria court room. I think the chilling thoughts and psychology of the latter are a perfect expression of both primordial (i.e. Mohammed's) and modern Islam.

Therefore I second Pipes' call for more separation rather than more contacts with Islam. Indeed, as I write this, it occurs to me that perhaps there is a parallel between what Israel is trying to do with its oh so proudly full-of-hate-and-violence neighbors, and what the entire West and perhaps the world should be doing with the metastasizing totalitarianism of Islam, both within its own societies and worldwide.

Except for oil commerce and dealings (where physically safe) in their countries, let us consider a world wide quarantine of Islam unless or until it recognizes and comes to terms with its extreme, and prideful, violence and intolerance.

Ron Thompson

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