Friday, October 15, 2021

The Taliban We Don't Want to Be

Korea has accepted 391 refugees from Afghanistan recently. The issue at times is contentious since the country is still considered ethnically homogeneous by the citizens. The Korean government has amended the immigration laws to allow long-term residency as foreigners since the refugees provided special services to Korea in the embassy, hospitals and military bases etc. in Afghanistan.

In his weekly column  in the Catholic Times, a priest  director of a Catholic Spiritual Psychological Counseling Center, writes about the Taliban.

Not all Muslims are Taliban. However, the Taliban are Muslims. Perhaps because of the contents of the banner attached to a village, some  citizens have developed a fear of Muslims in our society as they entered Korea.

The problem is that this kind of dislike is likely to turn the person into a monster, so think carefully. After Corona 19, we hear about the hate for Asians and the use of violence against them in the West. We talk about it and complain on how can people be like that, but we may be doing the same thing.
 
So, what is the substance of the Taliban who commit crimes against humanity under the cover of Islam? He wants  to look at it psychoanalytically rather than religiously.

The Taliban's overly obsessive obsession with their laws shows we are dealing with a 'collective obsessive-compulsive personality disorder'. A bigger problem is the feeling of 'inferiority'. It is a structure of consciousness like a frog in a well, but since the Taliban themselves started as Islamic seminarians, they are immature and and feel inferior. He sees a need for them to see their problem as inferiority  because their behavior is immature, impulsive, extreme and aggressive. 
 
Psychologist Adler points out "desire for superiority" as the biggest side effect that occurs when people with a strong sense of inferiority are ambitious within religion. Morally, it refers to the desire to stand above everyone, and this desire for moral superiority naturally induces narcissism and evokes a desire to condemn others morally.

In addition, a sense of inferiority causes a problem of 'self-expansion'. Of course, there is no self-reflection here. This is because they consider themselves to be people with infallible rights. Their moral ambitions grow over time and want to make the world their kingdom. In their Islamic kingdom, they make heretics all others and antagonize people who differ from their thoughts. Conversation, communication, and respect are rejected.
 
These collectively religiously diseased patients are the Taliban. Their actions are reminiscent of pseudo-fanatics obsessed with delusional beliefs. It is presumed that the fundamental background behind their psychology was the abusive environment of their growth process. Children who grow up abused create  groups like the Taliban.
 
From long in the past, fanatic groups have shocked people by committing all kinds of atrocities with fanatical faith. Fortunately, the lifespan of these groups is not very long. He doesn't think the life span of the Taliban will be very long.

There is a lesson we can learn from the Taliban. They show the old story of trying to make heaven on earth eventually turns the world into hell is correct. The Taliban is not just in Afghanistan. If you express open hostility toward others and live in "aggressive exclusive collectivism" without dialogue, you are the Taliban.

There are voices of concern that Afghanistan refugees have entered Korea. However, what we should be worried about is not them, but the Taliban in us.