Facing Down the Fanatics

Nick R. Post #3 Facing Down the Fanatics, National Geographic,October 2009
Written by Michael Finkel

Facing Dwon the Fanatics is an article about Islam in Indonesia. Indonesia is the largest muslim country in the world with 207 million people. It is also the third largest democracy in the world following India and the United States. Indonesia has been the home to numerous bombings and other terrorists activities. However over the last few years the population seems to headed in a different direction. The majority of muslims in Indonesia believe that their religion and democracy and a modern society can all exsist together. The local traditions of the native population has still remained in place even though the majority of the population is muslim. The combing of acient tradiontions and being a devote muslim has worked well for the population of Indonesia. More and more territories in Indonesia are voting to become reuled by Sharia Law, which follows the Koran.

This is intersting in terms of social control. There are a number of different factors that come into paly in Indonesia. Religion being the main factor followed by leadership and then the population. Religion is the collective conscience in Indonesia and the governmental forces hace always been based on that. The control through religion can be very strict as it is in the Islamic religion. But the population of Indonesia is making it work so everyone lives in peace together. Democracy since the overthrow of dictatorship is the predominant force. The best example of social control comes fromthe article itself, "When the Western influence gets to strong, the Islamist voices grow louder. When the Islamist voices get to loud, the more secular voices will be raised." This is a good example of upward control because the people are the ones doing the balancing of the societal rules or laws.