In the television media coverage of true joy and gratitude for their release, the rhetoric about the true God and the virtue of their own cause was as Fundamentalist and violence inducing as anything to which they had been subjected. Thankfully, these are not violent people. What’s violent, by degrees, is the reaction of others to their Fundamentalism.
Muslim Fundamentalism
This one speaks for itself. Mass murder, Suicide bombings, Jihad against all non Muslims. A non Fundamentalist Arab columnist, Hazem Saghiyeh, in his commentary in Viewpoint October 15, wrote that the Arab world has a certain fixation on the past” Commenting on this in a letter to the editor of Time Magazine, November 5, Amin Kawar wrote, we have not established a free press, trade unions, and civil society necessary for debating matters related to the common good….” The latter perspective on his own people is responsible, inclusive, and rests on an optimistic view of possibility for Arabs. The Fundamentalist exclusionary view, expressed in violence and murder by religious and political terrorists only creates a future that looks like the past, with people getting even with each other, forever.
Peacenik Fundamentalism
There’s nothing like a good peacenik to make me want to fight somebody. Hermann Hesse said that in every truth, the opposite is equally true. In the movie, “Mars Attacks”, Jack Nicholson, the President of the United States, with a simpy, smiling expression, said “why can’t we all just get along” and the Mars General, weeping, then melts him into a green puddle. Yes, Peace with Justice is, and ought to be, the committed basis for human relationships. And, in everything from divorce to international relations, you have to be at least willing to make war to be able to make peace with justice. History shows this over and over again. Peakeniks are Fundamentalists embracing only one side of a paradox. In pressing their point with absolutism, they weaken the positive aspects of own argument, and strengthen the case for the use of force.
Conservative Fundamentalism
I believe in fiscal responsibility and family values. I think Bill Clinton might have been tidier in his domestic behavior. I think that corporations have rights. I love the United States and I will fight for it. In practice, Fundamental Conservatism however, always makes such ideas more important than people. Rush Limbaugh is my hero here. He is intelligent, knowledgeable, thorough, accurate, relevant and cruel. He is able to represent compassion, but never seems to feel it, except as diluted by intellect. Somebody told me that for a Fundamentalist Conservative, the heart is not a vital organ. The exception happens during an undeniable and awful human crisis like September 11th. Compassionate conservatism is an oxymoron. Fundamental conservatism is top dog racism and sexism. It’s a kind of metastasis of right brain, linear, convergent control oriented, bottom-line mentality. Fundamental conservatism is an evolutionary hole in he ground. It is a Tom Delay, white man’s view of freedom. It excludes minorities and women except for rich Texas blondes, politic black people and careerist Hispanics. It is money masquerading as intelligence.
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