"Religion and Arab Culture" WP Lang

 

My lecture notes from long ago for the benefit of those who have discovered water shortages as a source of ME culture.  pl

Download Islamic Religion and Arab Culture

Comments

[JiuJitsuMMA]

Thanks, Colonel.. excellent points you nade that dovetails with anthropologist Dr. Marvin Harri's award-winning book about how desert environments that are lacking in fresh water/food evolve cultures & religions that are more controlling, anti-sexual cultures (Judiasm, Bible/Christianity, Islam/Quran) because more sex means more babies that put more strain on the tribles limited water/food supplies
while
temperate to tropical cultures with plenty of freshwater & food evolve more open, pro-sexual cultures & religions (Taoism, original Confucius, Tantric Buddhisn, pagan Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic religions, etc)

I repeat it here since most people will miss it since it was on some post after #218 from about 3 days ago ) https://www.amazon.com/Our-Kind-Where-Came-Going/dp/0060919906

[turcopolier]

jiujitsmma

You just don't get it. you don't lecture me about this. I thought you might figure that out. I made "excellent points?" What an arrogant man you are. pl

[turcopolier]

fred

Agreed. pl

[JiuJitsuMMA]

I wasn't trying to lecture you -I was sharing information with the other readers on the forum. "Excellent points" was a compliment to you. My intent has always been to share information & more data points on the forum.

[SoCal Rhino]

Thank you. I've picked up a lot of that by reading posts and comments, seeing in one place helps solidify it.

[kao_hsien_chih]

Col. Lang,

Everyone who presumes to be a "social scientist" should be required to read these notes.

These notes make for an excellent bookend to the link posted by "Jack" some days ago: http://www.salientpartners.com/epsilon-theory/when-narratives-go-bad/

The objection that I raised to the argument offered by the author of the article is that it is not obvious when the narrative has gone "bad." The author presumes, like many members of my tribe, that there is some point when narratives go so obviously bad, at which time the secret Yankee inside everyone is bound to come out. Were that the case, we'd have to wait a really long time for the secret Yankee inside my Louisianan SWMBO (or at least the nearest approximation thereof). The really powerful narratives, formed over centuries of history and having weathered countless multitudes of challenges, just don't go that "bad" easily.

[turcopolier]

khc

Which narratives are you talking about here? pl

[Degringolade]

Nice

Thanks

[kao_hsien_chih]

I'm talking about the kind of truisms about the world and people that different groups take for granted as being "self-evident" (in some form or another) for no "clear" reason: the cultural perspectives, worldviews, and general sense of how the world works--and how a "normal" person should behave within.

The view that inside every human is a secret Yankee eager to break free, then, is itself a "narrative." It is so "obvious" and "self evident" to so many Western elites that they will have trouble breaking free of this thought pattern even in face of evidence seemingly to the contrary. The patterns of thoughts and behavior among the Middle Easterns that you have described, while very different in substance, also exist on the same plane: it is how they think, how they act, how and what they believe, and they will not change, especially not under short term pressure.

[Sam Peralta]

khc

why this hard-on for being a "scientist" among those in the social studies field? Is it to justify their wacko theories that would otherwise be dismissed by the application of common sense?

As I responded to the "karate man" with the nordic "model" wife on his claim that since the "empirical" evidence supports his "scientific" argument that such argument must be correct.

"One problem with empirical studies especially relating to human behavior is that correlation does not equate with causation. This where most empirical studies fail in attributing causes.

Those that claim "scientific method" superiority don't get that some of most trenchant observers of humanity were philosophers, historians and writers.

Hiding behind your scientific training does not necessarily improve your argument on matters relating to social issues like mass psychology, culture, economics and other areas of human behavior."

[The Beaver]

Colonel

Looks like there is something going on in Turkey.
Curfew in Ankara and road blocks in IST ( as per scuttlebutts on Twitter- different sources)

[turcopolier]

Beaver

Perhaps? At long last ... pl

[kao_hsien_chih]

You are mistaken if you believe I am trying to assert my own view of how the world works. I am not trying to "improve" my argument in the sense of trying to convince anyone what they don't already believe.

What I am trying to do is to "improve" my own understanding of how the world works, and solicit input from those who would offer their thoughts. I am far more fascinated by those who subscribe to "scientism" than those who allegedly behave "irrationally." Personally, I am more curious about why people like "karate man" (as you call him) insist on thinking like he does than why my people in Louisiana think as they do, because, quite frankly because people who think like "karate man" have undue influence on how policy gets made nowadays and have potential to kill us along the way by causing worldwide disasters if they screw up. I suppose, in a way, I am hoping to find some means of convincing THEM to think differently in a language that makes sense to them.

I don't think philosophers, historians, and writers, collectively, make for a good guide in today's universe, not because they were "wrong," but because they said too many things. The distinguishing characteristic of a "science" is that it oversimplifies and, in so doing, is wrong, not that it is right. Science advances by understanding how wrong different stages of oversimplification is, not by insisting on how right the oversimplified picture is.

[Istanbul Guy]

MILITARY COUP TAKING PLACE IN TURKEY

Just wanted to let you all know before they cut our internet...

bridges are closed, army on the streets.... jets flying over head....they are doing it 100% , even in smaller towns in rural Turkey...

[Croesus]

Is it fair to say that zionism correlates more closely with the ISIS-driven quest to re-establish the caliphate on its ancient territory, rather than with wahabbism, which I understand as a fundamentalist expression of Islam?

Also -- is Sharia a tribal or political emanation of Islam or is it more essentially linked to the religious traditions of Islam, i.e. something accumulated based on the accumulated teachings of the marja at-taqliid ? Basically the question I have is, What is Sharia?

[turcopolier]

Istanbul Guy

Bosphorus bridge cut? If the center of the coup is in Ankara they would do that to prevent 1st Army in Thrace From moving to Anatolia. pl

[The Beaver]

Colonel

This twitter account is giving updates and video :
https://twitter.com/agirecudi

[Liza]

Russia Today: Turkish PM says part of military attempting couple; military jets and helicopters flying low over Ankara; shooting heard.

https://www.rt.com/news/351334-ankara-shooting-jets-helicopters/

[Jack]

Istanbul Guy

Although I have no dog in this fight since it is an internal matter for the Turkish people and while in general I never support military coups, in this case I am rooting for those attempting to rout Erdogan. I hope they succeed and get Turkey out of arming and supporting the jihadists.

Please keep us posted as long as the Internet is working. And please keep safe!

[Babak Makkinejad]

If true, a sad day for the idea of Representative Government everywhere, especially in the Lands of Islam.

[turcopolier]

babak

Hitler was elected. Sometimes democracy bears poisoned fruit. pl

[Babak Makkinejad]

Yes, but I know how this is going to be understood; Muslims are not fit for Democracy.

And Erdogan and AKP were not Hitlerites.

[turcopolier]

Babak

I don't care. I want to see Turkey remain a secular Western oriented state with full human rights, not an Islamist pro-jihadi country. pl

[Babak Makkinejad]

That is fine, but the cost would be bayonet "secularism"; in my opinion.

[turcopolier]

babak

The Turkish republic and constitution were created with the bayonet against the will of people like Erdogsn. IMO that was a price worth paying. pl