On Fanaticism

All of us support something wholeheartedly. Some of us support a specific sport or specific sports club. Some of us support an ideology in politics. Some of us support a religion. However, in some cases, this support turns into obsession or excessive zeal. I believe this to be a highly dangerous and explosive behavior. This is what some people call fanaticism.

During the 2008 presidential election, some people were very angry when Hillary lost to Obama and some of these Hillary supporters decided to become republican. This, in doubt is fanaticism because these people forgotten their aim. The aim at that time was to make sure that a Democrat wins the election and it does not matter who it was.

When Palin came to the republican scene, she immediately touched on a sensitive topic for many Americans which is patriotism. Because of this, many people followed her whole heartedly even though if she was leading them to jump off a big hill. They were blind by their fanaticism toward the Republican ideology or the patriotic song that Palin was playing and forgot that there are serious problems in this country that need to be dealt with. Luckily, in the two cases Obama won.

But, I am not writing this because of politics or because of Obama. I am writing this to discuss something that runs deep in our minds and souls that we barely take note of and that is our fanaticism toward something. Some argue that fanaticism is not that big of an issue and it barely harms anyone. Well, tell that to the people who died in 9/11 or to the people who lost their lives because of their color, religion or even to what side of town they live in.

Fanaticism grows in every direction and affects us in many ways and examples of it are sadly endless. For instance, I have friends who are republicans who to this day believe that George Bush was good for our country and that he actually fixed it and Clinton did nothing but ruin the country. They wanted McCain to win to continue Bush's great policies. But the worst part is that you can not argue with them because as Winston Church once said "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject"

Then of course there are the religious fanatics which have the potential of being the most destructive. For hundreds of years now we had three dominating religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All three religions claim to believe in one merciful God. The word "claim" here will upset those religious people. Let me rephrase. All three religions believe in one God. They just do not seem to agree on details. The Jews are waiting for their messiah. The Christians believe the messiah came and he is the son of God while the Muslims disagree that Jesus was the son of God but believe in the prophet Mohammed. However, while they all agree that there is one God, they all disagree on that one God. Because of this, millions of people were killed and many more will still die for it. The mistake is not religion of course, it is the mistake of the people who misinterpret everything and make it earthly.

Some Muslims, for example, hate Christians with a passion and there are many Christians who hate Muslims with that same passion. You will find a lot of that in the Middle East. While both religions teach peace, the people who practice it don't and that is due to their blind fanaticism. Jesus once said "If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap your left cheek too."Matthew 5: 39. He also said that we need to forgive and love one another not to hate or discriminate. Same goes for the Jewish and the Muslim people. But again many of us do not do any of that no matter how religious we are. Because this is not about religion, this is about blind fanaticism.

Of course, many will argue that this sort of behavior is due to poverty and that well-educated people who have the money would never engage in that behavior. Let me remind you that when the constitution was written, a black man was counted for as 1/5 of a man. I am pretty sure that Thomas Jefferson was a well educated, rich man but yet that idea installed in his brain won the better of him.

Fanaticism is not something that is due to just poverty or lack of education which do help but it is simply something that is rooted in us like an evil seed that is waiting for the right moment to come out and show itself. Fanaticism is something that can only be dealt with, with confrontation and complete unbiased honesty because it is a serious threat and a problem to the whole world.

In the last couple of days before the New Year, I am sure we can put that on the long list of resolutions for the New Year.This resolution can actually save lives.