The F word
INTRODUCTION TO FANATISM
Fanatism is usually defined in dictionaries as a passionate, excessive and blind devotion towards a man or an idea, that is usually followed by violence and aggression for those with opposite opinion. This definition cannot serve as the sole basis for interpretation because its incomplete. It deals more with consequences than it does with the cause itself. I've recently read an article that inspired me for this post, it talked about a young man who decided to eat only Nutella for one week for all his meals. He concluded that it was unhealthy. My brain almost exploded after reading that Sherlock genius. Ok, I understand... Not every exaggeration is necessarily fanatism but I've been wondering about that text and some conversations that I've had on this subject and made a conclusion that I should write about F curse word. Why curse word? Usually, when I point out to someone that they are acting fanatically, they get offended like I've added their whole family members to fuck fukcity fuck fuck fuck sentence. Everybody accepts that fanatism is something bad and don't want to be associated with it, but not everyone knows what it really is.
LACK OF CRITICAL OPINION
Input and output, it all comes down to this. Input are all the information that we receive and output are the ones that we develop as a result. Input comes from two sources, inside input is our own and outside input is from other people. Inside input is our own thinking and it can be expressed in written or painted form, but the outside input is the one that usually comes through various texts from the internet or from books. That inside and outside gibergaber can be more or less professional, of dubious or respectable quality, but only by taking everything into the account can we develop the good end result. Only when we've taken all the information, from the inside and from the outside, and mixed them all up in a mental bowl, made a mental salat with them, only then we can make a critical approach, think, logically connect, compare, discard or moderate and then create a quality output. There is no talking with a fanatic, no outside input for him, and logic is only used by exaggeration. I've eaten only Nutella for a week which had bad effects on my body so the conclusion is that Nutella is bad. Nutella isn't the problem!!! The problem is instead of one slice of bread with Nutella, you've eaten a couple of kilos of it a day! The problem is never one beer, one pizza or going to church on Sundays, listening to your favorite artist or going to a protest. Fuckity situation enters the stage somewhere around the third case of beer, second jumbo pizza, altar licking on a daily basis, activism for activism and listening to that one song over and over again until your ears start to bleed. That fuckity situation is dangerous only for the individual who is in it. Fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck situation starts when people pick up a megaphone and start calling out others, spreading their true wisdom about the one and only beer, explaining to others that if you don't drink that specific beer you are not smart enough, not good enough, blessed, experienced, not peaceful enough... The problem with fanatics is that they impose their truth whether you want it or not. If you don't understand and accept words, you will understand punches or maybe even a bullet. When defying long enough maybe a bomb or two comes flying by. This amplification would be comical if it wasn't so realistic. The ugly F monster sleeps inside us all, and the more you feed it, the more it grows and develops. Wouldn't it be easier to recognize the problem on time when it's not too late?
WHERE IS THE END OF EXPANSION?
Its always much easier to point our fingers at others that at ourselves, so we will see fanatic behavior in those, surprise surprise, which are different from us. Sometimes we even fool around with this term and attach it to people when we don't approve of their choices and accuse others of being fanatic just for disagreeing with us. It's ok if they don't agree with us. That's the first and most important step in dealing with this problem. It's ok. It's completely normal for people to have different opinions and lead different lives. The second step is accepting that difference. The thing that I love doesn't have to be the thing that somebody else loves. With these two steps, we would stop the spreading of fanatism from us to others but the hardest part is to recognize fanaticism in ourselves and to stop the feeding the monster. It would be ideal if we would question and review our values on a regular basis. We should often think of the reason why we think something is correct, what situations had brought us to that conclusion, which people, what texts and emotions. On some stuff, we will have the same attitude and opinion our whole lives and on others, it will vary and change the more we learn about them. Not every change is good, but development is, so next time someone says to you that you've changed, don't see it as an insult, it was probably a compliment.
