Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA24761 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 7 Mar 2002 13:21:34 GMT Subject: Re: Fwd: Questions about Islam and violence From: Ned Wolpert <wolpert5@cox.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk In-Reply-To: <20020306220757.CBC6E1FD52@camail.harvard.edu> References: <20020306220757.CBC6E1FD52@camail.harvard.edu> Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="=-op4wFZOW0lbWjs4tO8OH" X-Mailer: Evolution/1.0.2 Date: 07 Mar 2002 06:16:58 -0700 Message-Id: <1015507099.225.4.camel@wolpert.coxphx.az.home.com> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
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On Wed, 2002-03-06 at 15:07, Wade T.Smith wrote:
> As practiced by millions of Muslims, Islam may well be as pacific as any
> other religion.
This statement is the crux of the matter. As viewed from an outsider,
this is quite true. Islam is as much a force of pacifism as any other
religion. Which is to imply that each religion is as much a force of
warmongering as the next. (A truism, no? A=B, !A=!B for the most part
applies to this statement...)
On a separate but related topic, does the concept of pacifism harbor
more of a beneficial meme to the genetic host than the concept of
warmongering? On one hand with pacifism, peace makes it easy to raise
ones own set of kids. On the other, war reduces competition of genetic
strains. (When its over) Thoughts?
Does the 'war' meme trump the 'peace' meme? Or is it always context
representative and never clear cut. It seems easier to convince people
to fight than to convince people to stop fighting, and from a meme
perspective, its easier to rile people up than calm them down. (Course,
this brings the last question... does the r/k-selection help define
which meme is more acceptable in a population?)
--Virtually, Ned Wolpert <wolpert5@cox.net> 4e75
1024D/5DEA314E: 7FFB 99C3 BF90 6135 12F4 07B8 0B23 2E5C 5DEA 314E
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