X-Message-Number: 20562 From: "Mark Plus" <> Subject: Crowding out Islam in children's brains Date: Sat, 07 Dec 2002 09:45:29 -0800 Islam, like every other religion, is always one generation away from extinction. That's why Muslims invest a lot of resources into brainwashing children, getting them to memorize the whole Koran -- in Arabic! -- even if the children don't speak Arabic as their native language. This suggests a strategy for a kind of memetic prophylaxis. Children naturally absorb all sorts of cultural constructs from their environment, even ones against their parents' wishes. Just look at all the American & British youngsters who've read something like a thousand pages of Harry Potter novels, who know everything there is to know about this fictional character & his adventures, and who display an authentic, spontaneous enthusiasm for this intellectual exercise, often to their parents' exasperation & bafflement. Indeed, these kids seem to be more excited learning about Harry Potter than learning about their parents' religious beliefs, if any. If "Potterism" were being promoted as a new divine revelation, its spread would probably be threatening the established religions in Western countries in a few years. Certainly children would rather read the novels than some religious scripture. Of course, Harry Potter isn't being presented as an alternative messiah or prophet, but somehow the right combination of factors have come together to create this intriguing religion-like phenomenon in a society where religious literacy is otherwise in decline. So how about this, as a long-term strategy for fighting radical Islam: Taking the lead from the Harry Potter craze, let's get some logists, evolutionary psychologists & other plausible experts on human behavior together to engineer an infectious, self-perpetuating mythological construct to introduce into Muslim societies through their popular culture so that it occupies enough of their children's time & energies to interfere with learning about Islam. If the new myth promotes some pro-social messages compatible with Secular Humanist ideals about the good life, so much the better. Mark Plus It's not "religious" or "science fictional" if you can do it. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20562