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could this explain the fundamentalist mindset


I haven’t met them in person. I hear the US of A produces them by the millions.

Could the fundamentalist be one who says if a book is truthful, then the issue is already covered in the[insert holy book] and if it is wrong, then it is harmful for the soul and so they shouldn’t read it?

About makagutu

As Onyango Makagutu I am Kenyan, as far as I am a man, I am a citizen of the world

89 thoughts on “could this explain the fundamentalist mindset”

  1. inspiredbythedivine1 says:
    March 22, 2015 at 22:43

    This is true only in regards to the Egyptian Book of the Dead. All other holy books are lies written on top of more lies being followed by liars who lie because, well, because they’re liars.

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  2. Robert A. Vella says:
    March 22, 2015 at 23:43

    To fully understand the fundamentalist mindset, one must become familiarized with the myriad pathologies of human psychology.

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  3. Ain't No Shrinking Violet says:
    March 23, 2015 at 00:26

    Having been a former devout catholic, I can tell you that for me it was a toxic combo of being raised in it (and thus brainwashed into it), groupthink, and the ultimate hook: you’ll burn in hell for eternity if you don’t do what you’re told. Yes, we’re taught the bible and the catechism cover everything you need for daily living, and other sources of info are inspired by satan and will lead to our ruin. It’s complete psychological fuckery.

    Now that I’m on the other side I can’t believe what I got sucked into…I have a degree in science and am not doormat by any means. Yet I was unable to extract myself for several decades. Being born into a fundie lifestyle makes it seem *totally normal*. It’s all you know and no one else is questioning things (because know one who is questioning is allowed to remain in it). There’s also the pressure that if you walk away, you leave everyone you love and your entire lifestyle behind, and will be scorned as an apostate. I know this is difficult to understand for those who have never dealt with it. So while it’s humorous to make fun of fundies sometimes (and I have myself), do know that these people are not well in the head…it’s actually more tragic than funny.

    It does seem the US has very high numbers of this kind of intense religious nuttery…I would be interested to know why that is.

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    • Robert A. Vella says:
      March 23, 2015 at 00:57

      Good question.

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    • archaeopteryx1 says:
      March 23, 2015 at 01:30

      I’ve published this before, but for those who haven’t read it —

      In his book, 1984, George Orwell coined the term doublethink, which has been defined as not just the ability to say that black is white, but “also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink. Doublethink is basically the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”

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      • Ain't No Shrinking Violet says:
        March 23, 2015 at 02:02

        I’ve heard the word “doublethink” on some atheist blogs but did not know the definition. Thanks for providing it Arch.

        It’s an excellent description of what happens in hard-core religion. The only small adjustment I’d make is to say that when you’re born into fundie religion, you’re taught black is white straight from the start…only as time goes on does the cognitive dissonance grow, and only through extreme discomfort do you begin to realize the other color even exists. I’m not sure I’m explaining that in a way that makes sense…maybe it would be better to say it’s hard to detect brainwashing when you’re already brainwashed.

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      • makagutu says:
        March 23, 2015 at 09:05

        George Orwell was a man who understood men and how they are influenced

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    • themodernidiot says:
      March 23, 2015 at 06:01

      welcome back 🙂

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      • Ain't No Shrinking Violet says:
        March 23, 2015 at 06:34

        Thank you! The question is, am on now on the side of darkness or the side of light? Seems like a lot of people see the word Satan tattooed on my forehead since my fall from faith. 😉

        PS As to your below comment, I guess I happened to be one of the rare middle class, college-educated fundies. Crazy knows no bounds. Do I hate my former brethren? No…but I’d say I feel pretty sorry for the poor suckers. It seems perfectly fine to hate “ignorant xenophobic isolationist anti diversity insanity.”

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        • themodernidiot says:
          March 23, 2015 at 08:35

          Clarification: you can be college educated and follow on the wrong path. Intelligence can even increase our tenacity for certain ideas. I think growing up in it is a way they keep it going.

          As I noted, our fundamentalists (as opposed to our Fundamentalists) tend to concentrate by geography and demographic. We’ve seen an increase in fundamentalism since the seventies when Falwell and friends went political. Now the rich and their government lackies use it as a tool to drag the scared, anxious, and nervous into the voting booths.

          But rather than be educated about how the world works people get caught up in media bull, blended by systemic manipulation, and so swallow the magic-pill promises of the cults that surround them.

          Your indoctrination before your education was complete is by no means a reflection of who you are now. Nor does it mean your previous brethren are a bunch of droolers lol, apologies if that seemed my point.

          When I say scared and stupid, a lack of book learnin’ isn’t always denoted. There are many attractions to religion, but the appeal in the more extreme ones is the false promise of power, which is the false cure for insecurity that usually caused by a lack of security and/or basic comforts.

          Control the food, the water, and the money, and you’ll have people believing in the saving power of cheese.

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    • themodernidiot says:
      March 23, 2015 at 06:21

      the highest numbers of fundamentalists can be found among the least-educated poor and the greediest rich, both groups that seek to control politics and shape American policy to their own ignorant xenophobic isolationist anti diversity insanity. we hate them as a rule. just to be clear 🙂

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      • makagutu says:
        March 23, 2015 at 09:16

        I think the poor are easy to influence. They have no need for reflection and critical thought. They have one concern- where there next meal comes and where they will sleep

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        • themodernidiot says:
          March 23, 2015 at 17:09

          granted that takes up our lives, but ill have to disagree with you that we have no need for it. we are precisely those who need it most, and thankfully there is still plenty of it below the poverty line. the absolutely destitute such as the homeless of the us, the beggars of Asia etc, can sometimes be the best reflectors of all because in between thy lack the distractions of punching clocks and monthly payments.

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          • makagutu says:
            March 23, 2015 at 19:52

            Maybe you are right. I will spend time with the poor to get to know what it is that goes through their minds. While writing this, it occurred to me that he is poor who is not contented. Maybe I should just talk to a politician

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            • themodernidiot says:
              March 24, 2015 at 06:29

              I thought about this all day, and realized I wasn’t trying to completely contradict your statement. So sorry. I agree the poor are easier targets because they have less inclination to fuss over policy when the policy is working them to the bone 🙂

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    • makagutu says:
      March 23, 2015 at 09:01

      I, too, would love to hear what makes the US of A produce so many.
      I was brought up Catholic too and I have spent time trying to understand why I believed for so long. Maybe religion makes one a lazy thinker if one does think. There is little curiosity. The bible tells you in the beginning god did this and that is all the cosmology you need. Then it tells you what you should not do and so one lives their lives without trying to go beyond what is in the bible.

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      • Ain't No Shrinking Violet says:
        March 23, 2015 at 15:43

        I don’t agree that religion makes you a lazy thinker, but it certainly makes you an illogical thinker. I studied the bible daily for decades…it’s *hard work* to make sense of all that nonsense! People devote years of their lives to the seminary and the serious studying of the bible. While there is little curiosity about the secular world (because the secular world is damned), there is great curiosity about things of god (his will for them, how to please him, how to gain his favor, etc).

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  4. clubschadenfreude says:
    March 23, 2015 at 02:06

    you might be interested in this monograph by Bob Altemeyer. Altemeyer, a psych professor from U of Manitoba, analyzed the conservative American mindset.

    http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

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  5. A Guy Without Boxers says:
    March 23, 2015 at 02:10

    A fundamentalist is anyone who has the ability to think stupid, act stupid and believe stupid all the while being publicly stupid. I hope you enjoyed your weekend, my Nairobi brother! 🙂

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  6. Daniela says:
    March 23, 2015 at 02:11

    By their very definition, fundamentalists of whichever creed and not all are faith/religion based, are unable/unwilling to see that which does not adhere to their view of the world. If, even for just a moment, they contemplate anything that is outside their views, they will cease to be fundamentalists and that is something that threatens their sense of self.

    Have a great week!

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  7. Ain't No Shrinking Violet says:
    March 23, 2015 at 02:52

    Out of curiosity, are atheists ever referred to as fundamentalists?

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  8. Eric Alagan says:
    March 23, 2015 at 03:00

    All who believe – believe in their truth and it is true for them – for their level of evolution. However, there are some lesser truths and some greater truths. In time, we will all know Truth 🙂

    Peace, my Kenyan Bro 🙂

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  9. nannus says:
    March 23, 2015 at 09:54

    How dare you replace our holy book with a placeholder that could also refer ro others? 😉
    But I think yes, there are quite some instances of this pattern of thinking in history.

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  10. archaeopteryx1 says:
    March 23, 2015 at 16:42

    Colorstorm has a blog post called, “Just a small thing” – I think he’s describing his genitalia —

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  11. Ron says:
    March 23, 2015 at 18:41

    Invariable, the fun dies when fundies start quoting from their sacred book.

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    • archaeopteryx1 says:
      March 23, 2015 at 19:21

      I think everyone will enjoy this:

      Pop some corn —

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      • inspiredbythedivine1 says:
        March 23, 2015 at 19:40

        That was superb. As a side note, I’m convinced that Vanilla Ice is a deity, or at least he should be. The Cult of Ice: Vanilla Style! All hail the great white rapper! $Amen$

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        • archaeopteryx1 says:
          March 23, 2015 at 23:12

          “I’m convinced that Vanilla Ice is a deity” – yeah, well, maybe you haven’t heard, but your deity was picked up for shoplifting a couple of weeks ago. At the risk of sounding prejudiced, White boys can’t rap – they simply don’t have the American Black Ghetto Experience, and never will, and that’s what Rap is all about.

          On the other side of the coin, Rap is to music, what Etch-A-Sketch is to art.

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          • inspiredbythedivine1 says:
            March 23, 2015 at 23:38

            Sorry, arch, but you’re just wrong. If you had faith in white boy rappin’, you’d know the reality of truth. But since you take the idiotic shit I say seriously, you don’t see shit for the shit it is. Vanilla Ice was FRAMED by christians who fear him as a real god. It is christians who truly can’t rap, arch, not over the hill white boys like Ice. And, btw, rap is great music. It scares away mosquitoes. It really does. Everything is good for something, except christians that is. They just fucking suck all around.

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          • inspiredbythedivine1 says:
            March 24, 2015 at 13:43

            I got your mosquito reference. Was just being a tad over cantankerous and a-holish when I replied to the comment. Not directed at you. I just shouldn’t write replies whilst inebriated and covered in christian mosquitoes. 🙂

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      • Ain't No Shrinking Violet says:
        March 23, 2015 at 22:38

        Quite educational….I was not taught that viewpoint during Sunday mass.

        I don’t think I’m far enough out from catholicism yet to be able to watch this kind of thing…I just get an overwhelming urge to vomit on my laptop and start crying. 😦

        I did mighty enjoy the references to Vanilla Ice.

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    • makagutu says:
      March 23, 2015 at 19:56

      I know. It becomes a contest of which verse is the correct verse. Or which hadith is the one closest to the prophet.

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