Islamic Doctrine - Supremacism

Supremacism is the world view which holds that a particular race, ethnic group, religion, gender, social class, belief system, or culture is superior to other variations of that trait, and entitles those who identify with it to dominate, control, or exploit those who do not.  The Western world has jumped through hoops to remove from its cultures any sense of supremacism following the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party.  This has left it with a relativist world view, such that moral practices or cultural values have no absolute truth or validity, having only relative, subjective values according to differences in perception.

This has two consequences.  Firstly, it devalues personal and cultural values leaving them to be just one competing with many.  This diminishes the identity of the individual and of the milieu with which he or she identifies.  What is left of these values becomes hard to defend against competing forces, leaving the culture weak and vulnerable.  Secondly, where a supremacist culture exists, it will fill the gap left by relativism because of this vulnerability.

It is supremacism that makes Islam’s essentialism so dangerous.  Driven by the yaqeen, religious certainty, of its youthful demographic, it goes a long way to explain why Islam is so murderous. 

By managing its history, Islam sees itself on the right side of God’s will.  Future Islamic narratives will regard Islamic State’s conquest of Syria and Iraq, and the resultant sharp increase of Muslims in Europe, as showing that God supports its victories. 

Perhaps the West’s best-known example of supremacism is that of post-Weimar Germany with its race-based concept of purity.  While Islam has no racial component, it is based on the religious purity of its creed, and the means to obtain and maintain it are strikingly similar.  Suppression, even criminalisation, of free speech means that debate about the issue is not permitted.  Several methods are used to police this, violence, threats of violence, or examples of violence done to others is quite effective.  Other means, particularly in tertiary institutions, include hecklers’ veto, ‘smear and jeer’ responses, denying the oxygen of publicity to contrarian views, restricting academic publishing, Students’ Union embargoes, fears of antagonising Muslim students, ‘disinvitation’ such as Brandeis University’s treatment of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and many other “just shut up” contrivances.  There are a lot of comparisons, but I’ll mention just one other.  Jihad is described as a Muslim’s personal struggle.  Translate this into German …

Supremacism serves itself well.  It creates bonds stronger than patriotism or nationalism and causes their rejection, making democratic influence or legal control difficult, even untenable. Also, if one believes that Islam is a perfect system of governance, any failings in its governance are due to external causes.  To misquote Gore Vidal, it is not enough for Islam to succeed.  Others must fail.

While the significance of Islam’s supremacism cannot be overstated, what has to be admired is the manner in which it is being introduced into Europe.  Not with the slaughter of millions that has accompanied its conquests of the distant past, or even the many hundreds of thousands in the present, but through the consummate management of discourse and the skilled manipulation of the West’s ‘useful idiots’, predominantly on the far Left.

A whole new essay!