jon will like this

[Bill Irwin]

This statement in your post: "It is not the unbeliever as the other person
so much as the remnant of the unbeliever in one's customs and in one's ways
of thinking. It's this wish to destroy the past, the ancient soul, the
unregenerate soul."

This reminds me of Mao Zedong thought.  Mao wanted to destroy old Chinese
customs and reform peoples thinking through propaganda, struggle sessions,
and if need be through "reform through labor".  Mao tried to destroy the
past by physically destroying temples and other symbols of the past.  The
Cultural Revolution was the culmination of Mao Zedong thought.  But it
didn't work, old thoughts just went underground and are now resurfacing in
China.  The ruling exploitive class has returned, Buddhism and Taoism are
growing, and private accumulation is rampant.
Bill

 Original Message -----
From: James Holland <jhollnd@swbell.net>
To: <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2001 5:33 AM
Subject: Re: jon will like this


> I wanted to pass along these links...one is for the "Arts and Letters
> Daily," part of my morning cyberpatrol, and the other is linked from it,
> V.S. Naipul's interview in tomorrow's NYT about Islam.  This particular
> exchange really struck me:
>
............................................................................
> .............................
> Are you surprised by Osama bin Laden's support in Pakistan, Indonesia,
> Malaysia and Iran -- countries you wrote about in your travel books on
> Islam?
>
> No, because these are the converted peoples of Islam. To put it brutally,
> these are the people who are not Arabs. Part of the neurosis of the
convert
> is that he always has to prove himself. He has to be more royalist than
the
> king, as the French say.
>
> Is this what you mean when you write about Islam's imperial drive to
extend
> its reach and root out the unbeliever?
>
> Yes. It is not the unbeliever as the other person so much as the remnant
of
> the unbeliever in one's customs and in one's ways of thinking. It's this
> wish to destroy the past, the ancient soul, the unregenerate soul. This is
> the great neurosis of the converted.
>
>
>
> http://www.aldaily.com/
>
>
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/28/magazine/28QUESTIONS.html?pagewanted=print
>
> Jim H.
>