Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 4:17 pm
Oh crap. I'll try not to do that again.
I use the term science loosely. We are all scientists. Whether we are talking about formal experiments with controls in place or we are talking about an unruly child trying to see just how much he can get away with, each act goes toward some sort of (new) characterization of reality--a better understand of reality.
Just what all this has to do with Iraq is a bit murky. The unruly child in an Islamic reality is likely going to be under more control. The person generating a world view in an Islamic society will have to do so under stricter parameters. There is going to often be a gender bias in such societies that controls half the population to a greater degree than the other half. Control of individualism may be the common denominator to the cultural/ ideological war and the perception of this control slipping fuels desperate acts.
I don't think we are going to see the Amish strapping on bombs and walking into Starbucks even though their way of life is threatened by the greater society. Their religion is not based on strict control of the individual. When you are an adolescent you are allowed to live outside the community in the modern world. If you like it, stay there. If you don't live as a good Amish citizen as an adult then they ignore you.