From: RFaussette@aol.com
Date: Tue Jul 22 2003 - 12:38:33 EDT
In a message dated 7/21/03 1:34:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
Dawsonzhu@aol.com writes:
> Democracy is a tough and costly institution to keep going.
> It is supposed to be maintained by a commitment from voters
> to understand who they are voting for and how the various
> institutions of government work. This is _supposed_ to be
> accomplised by education although I really wonder sometimes
> what people were doing in their political science classes.
>
>
People aren't taught religious fanaticism in political science classes. And
as religion is trashed by a scientific community that scoffs at religion, (I'm
also in a thread on evo-psych right now where they're laughing at
Christianity) the damage to democracy and existing institutions religious fanaticism can
arrange is overlooked, for example such behaviors as:
A number of weeks ago (2002) a rebbe disappeared while on a day hike in New
Hampshire. His community called for
volunteers to search for him. Over 1,000 of them showed up, many traveling
from New York in buses and the New
Hampshire police had to ask them to go home because their numbers were
compromising the police search. This is a
display of absolutist collective behavior. For this entire community to
respond is a phenomenal event relative to the
response most other communities exhibit to the disappearance of a community
member barring the involvement of civil
authorities such as the police or other uniformed services.
In the same manner, religious absolutism governs the tremendous political
leverage orthodox religious communities such
as New Square display when they transact with political entities such as Bill
and Hilary Clinton. Only a religiously
committed population can deliver that kind of phenomenal bloc vote.
Such phenomenal collective behaviors as these two above cannot be reasonably
equated with the normal response
generated by any other but religiously dedicated communities.
Neither christian zealots nor atheist zealots display such authoritarian
theocratic communal behaviors nor are these behaviors commonly put before them to
consider, particularly in political science classes. There is an excellent
book available Real Jews, Secular Vs. Ultra-Orthodox and the struggle for Jewish
Identity in Israel by Noah J. Efron, Basic 2002 which tells the story of the
impossible job secular Jews in Israel have controlling their ultra-orthodox
communities who usurp much of the government through such solidly orchestrated
communal behaviors.
rich faussette
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