Re: Why Europe is so Contrary

From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Sun 17 Nov 2002 - 18:36:44 GMT

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    > >snipping<
    >
    > > The international community adopts a similar approach to the
    > > Middle East. After all, who is easier to condemn--Arabs or Jews? And
    > > so the pressure always falls on the latter. Especially since
    > > everyone knows that their conduct is generally guided by principles
    > > of humanity, morality, honesty, compassion and justice.
    >
    > What has this rant got to do with memetics?
    >
    Oty has to do with the root causes for the European reticence to engage a dire terrorist threat: fear. Quite simply, they are afraid to piss off the maniacs; they would much rather snub the reasonable people, because the reasonable people will not answer with truckbombs, airplanes flown into skyscrapers, and poison gas in subway systems. What the Europeans fail to realize is that they, inasmuch as they are not Islamic and ruled by shar'ia law, will receive these attacks anyway, simply because of who they are; part of the infidel Dar el Harb, and an affront to Allah. Chamberlain once, as Churchill phrased it, had a choice between war and dishonor, chose dishonor, and still got war. Vis-a-vis Radical Muslim terrorists (Al Quaeda and others) and those who would supply them with WMD's, many Europeans are facing the same choice, and are making it in the same way that Chamberlain did. Fear is a visceral memetic hook, sometimes overriding both logic and the urge to freedom.
    >
    > Alan
    >
    >
    > ===============================================================
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    > Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
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    > see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
    >

    =============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit

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