When the word fanaticism is mentioned, or when someone is called a fanatic we tend to associate it with a person or people of religious beliefs that has an extreme opposition to other beliefs.
Being fanatic doesn't just apply to the religious people but also to people who do not believe in God or any form of religious beliefs. I was watching a debate of an atheist with a religious scholar, which was very interesting, what I find intriguing is how extreme and the unwillingness of the atheist to consider the possibility of another beliefs just because it's not either scientific proven or it is out of the realm of rationality or logic.
Fanaticism has become a weakness or a spot that is being used to exploit and manipulate the society. After much thought and contemplation I have come to the conclusion that the easiest person or a person that is pron to being manipulated is a fanatic. All you need to do is to feed to the belief a fanatic and you have control over him/her.
When we look at the world extremist groups, we will see that it is made up of people who have extreme opposition for other's thoughts and beliefs. Fanaticism I believe comes in different forms. We have religious fanaticism, cultural fanaticism, social fanaticism, moral fanaticism and philosophical fanaticism.
Religious fanaticism ask we know is more common in our society, be it the opposition between one of the famous religions in the world or the rejection of other religious value. Example of this is the extreme opposition of both Christianity and Islam has for the religious beliefs of religion like Buddhism, Hinduism and Satanism etc. This fanaticism in religion has become the source and causes a lot of the disorder in society and also in family used to exploit people of peace and growths.
Cultural fanaticism is being against other's cultural beliefs and also thinking that one's culture is better than other. This type of fanaticism is second to religious fanaticism when it comes to creation of disorder in the society. When look in the situation of a country, it exists a prejudice narrative that one culture is bad. This might be caused by an unfortunate circumstances or fallacy carried around. It has leads to disunity and lack of harmony.
Social fanaticism is less violent than both the previous. This is a fanaticism that has to with how other society value or norm are being seen negatively from other perspective. This kind of fanaticism happens around the world, like how the Africans see the Europeans social values and how the Arabians see Americans social value and vice versa. Fanaticism like this is caused due to the results of religious and cultural fanaticism, it can be said it is a product of both. It has caused a lot of diplomatic disagreement between well known countries.
Moral fanaticism if said truthful has to do with the narcissism of people. It has to do with how other's moral values are seen has disruptive or non-lucrative, because seeing or opposing another person or people moral values and beliefs is narcissistic. When it comes to moral values it all has to do with perspective and how comfortable a person or people are with their actions. An example of it is the disdain look upon the practice of marriage between cousins.
Philosophical fanaticism is more of a competition of knowledge or perspective of life. In the early ages, philosophical knowledge was part of the knowledge that made an impact on the development of human society after technology and science. It is well known that the philosophy of different people doesn't align with others. It is a fanaticism that has to do with the way of life of people and people should see life..
These are my thoughts to it when it comes to fanatism, and if we look closely we will see that we as a person are also fanatic in one way or the other. My message is that it is not necessary for us to accept others beliefs but we should learn to tolerate and be open-minded, because it's a good way of transparency. If you have another opinion you can put it down on the comment section.
My name is Megatey. I blog on philosophy, poetry and life issues. For more of this article, you can visit my blog. If you enjoy this article, feel free to Upvote, Reblog and Comment. Thank You