Islamism: a self-referential meme?

In recent years, it has become fashionable amongst anthropologists and sociologists to describe almost all societal phenomena as memes - parasitic mental processes which propagate in the same manner as chain letters and computer viruses. A meme can also be defined as any self-referential belief system which contains within itself the instructions for its own propagation.

The Islamist ideology, as embodied by most Islamist groups, can be modelled as a self-perpetuating delusion. There is some merit in exploring how Islamism can be seen to function through the eyes of meme theory, and how it influences the behaviour of its adherents and opponents.

A meme carries exactly the same fear-driven psychological motivation as a chain letter - "If you propagate me then something nice will happen, if not then something horrible will happen". In order to justify themselves against attack by reason, memes place absolute reliance on faith, which is seen as being superior to reason. They also contain self-referential or circular claims to the truth such as

"This meme says it is the divine truth and can be proved by enlightened thought to be the truth. Since it is the divine truth whatever its says must be true. Therefore it must be divine truth because it says so and all competing memes must be either deviant, corrupt, or the work of the Devil".

These two types of self-referential statement "propagate me" and "I am the only truth" provide the driving force for Islamist memes to invade the minds of their hosts, and drive out all competing memes. In addition, many memes contain a strong tendency towards hatred and intolerance with instructions such as "Love and help people who believe in this meme, hate and attack people who do not". In memetics, these commands are seen as the main factor behind all religious hatred, wars, pogroms and persecutions throughout the centuries.

More detailed analysis will show that like a virus or parasitic worm, a successful meme must perform two actions:

- Ensure it takes up long-term residence in its host.
- Bring about the conditions for its spread.

According to meme theory, the Islamist ideology needs to establish itself in the mind of its host using some or all of the following mechanisms:

1. Promise heaven and salvation for its adherents.

2. Threaten punishment in hell for rejection.

These two are easily achieved by maintaining that the ideology espoused by this particular Islamic group is in fact Islam in its purest form, and hence it derives its divinity from that of the Creator, and its infallibility from that of the scriptures.

3. Boost the believers' egos by telling them they are "chosen" or superior to believers in false memes, and hence part of an elite "saved sect".

4. Disable the faculties of doubt and rejection ("immune response") by claiming that faith is superior to reason, and that the reasoning of the group's main patrons is superior to their own (ie don't bother arguing).

5. Establish itself as the One True Meme, usually by distorting some texts from the scripture containing a circular self-referential argument or justification for the exclusive validity of this group's methods (a practice known as exclusivism, see related entries here and here).

Once it has infected the mind of its host, a meme needs to propagate itself, and a successful Islamist meme will contain instructions for some or all of the following:

6. Convert, discredit, attack or neutralise all rival groups, thoughts or ideologies.

7. Intimidate and discriminate against doubters (potential rebels).

8. Enforced social isolation to "apostates"; an apostate is a host which has cured itself of the meme-infection. It is especially dangerous to the meme because it might pass on meme-resistance to others. Sympathisers with ex-Islamists often face intimidation and threats.

9. Censorship - prevent rival memes (groups, thoughts or ideologies) from reaching potential hosts (a theological doctrine known as 'Error has no rights').

Each of these points will be looked at in more detail insha Allah...

Related blog entries: Defined by bogeymen; Islanist piranha cults


Adapted from http://home.btclick.com/scimah/memes.htm