Book Review: “The Parasitic Mind” by Gad Saad

And pushing back against Wokeism & Islam

Faculty portrait of Gad Saad, Professor, Department of Marketing & Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and Darwinian Consumption at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business in Montreal
Annagun, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I remember watching War Room and an interview with Gad Saad with his talk about campus wokeism, SJW’s, feminism and transgenderism. Saad is a Lebanese Jew who escaped from Lebanon along with his family and their lives. Perversely, his family escape was helped by members of the PLO in the Lebanon who took them to the airport under gunfire.

His disciplines are Maths, Computer Science, Behavioural Psychology and Marketing. He also hosts a YouTube channel

I am listening to his book, “The Parasitic Mind” and I recommend it as an audio-book from Audible because it is narrated in his style of humorous delivery.

On the War Room he talked about how he was a Honey Badger because it is a fierce animal that would fight anything and he says that in any argument he simply doesn’t give up.

Anecdotes are one of the best ways of communicating ideas and helping to convey the case you are making and where you stand. Here are just two:-

“We took our young child to a public playground and there were three women(?) dressed in Burqa and Niqab. We immediately decided to leave because we didn’t want to scare our daughter that witches and demons were real”

“The feminists tell us that the bikini is a sexist invention from a patriarchal society designed to sexualise women. The Burqa, Niqab and scarf, in contrast are to liberate women”

The first example echo’s Boris’s “letterbox” moment. Why shouldn’t anyone see Islamic dress in the West and think it looks sinister?

The second anecdote illustrates how the feminist SJW exhibits hypocrisy. It is another theme Saad picks up later in the book about Islam apologists and their defenders in the West.

Saad isn’t too keen on Islam having suffered from his Muslim neighbours in The Lebanon. He is also an Arab speaker.

He has three chapters:-

“Nothing to do with Islam”

“How Ostrich Parasitic Syndrome Sufferers Protect Islam”

“Is Sharia Law Consistent with Western Legal Standards”

He picks up the theme of NTDWI that is detailed in the book:- “Nothing to Do With Islam” by Peter Townsend and “The History of Jihad – Form Mohammed to ISIS” by Robert Spencer. Both of which I have in my Audible library.

These authors articulate that The Koran reflects the two periods of Mohammed’s life. In precis, he started in Mecca and it was “Hey, I’ve got a new religion, come and join us its all peace and love”. That was somewhat of a failure.

Then he was invited to Medina to mediate between disparate tribes of Jews and Arab traditionalists to try and form a society cohesion around a single belief. The solution was slaying. Convert or be killed. This era created the Jihad concept of conquest ultimately resulting in the expansion of Islam across The Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

The Koran has the concept of “Abrogation”. Whatever came first in the Koran (Mecca) is superseded by what came after (Medina).

Saad discusses how the West has been blinded to the Jihadist scope of Islam by politicians who insisted, without any knowledge that Islam is a Religion Of Peace. He notes how Islamic Terrorists are labelled “lone wolf”, or “aren’t true Muslims”, “aren’t following the true faith of Islam” and “How do you know what the Koran says? Do you read Arabic?” Saad does, it’s his mother tongue.

Saad uses the example of the West’s apologies for Islam to place it in the realms of the Politically Correct, SJW supporting politicians and academia, as well as your average street SJW. And it is the theme of Saad’s beliefs that these “parasitic” ideas must be challenged.

He trashes an argument that is often used where an opinion of Islam is based on the Muslim you know, He articulates:-

“Just because Mr Ahmed eats pork and drinks beer doesn’t mean that because he is a liberal Muslim that Islam itself must be liberal”

He discusses Muslim immigration being a possible time bomb (possibly of the suicide type). He is amazed at Angela Merkel’s immigration policy. He comments:-

“How perverse that Germany’s guilt over the slaughter of Jews in The Holocaust has led to a liberal policy of letting in millions of Muslim refugees, many of whom would gladly see another Holocaust of Jews”

He tackles “Islam is a Religion of Peace” by applying a scientific methodology to analyse that slogan. He covers the Koran and Hadiths  from the Medina which is about conquest and subjugation period which abrogate the early philosophy of the Mecca period to try and unite beliefs into one religion.

He quotes the number of Islamic Terrorism attacks since 9/11 and documents the FBI’s list of the most wanted terrorists, the vast majority of whom are Muslims.

Saad illustrates the Wokeist Mind when he got into a discussion about there being immutable truths. He posited “There are only two genders/sexes, a Man and a Woman”. “No, no” argued the feminist SJW. Who preceded to tell him about several different sexes and transgender type identities.

“OK, so let’s explore whether there are immutable truths. Is it true that ancient sailors relied on the sun rising in the East and setting in the West for navigation”

“No, no” argued the feminist/SJW, “It depends on what you mean by “East” and “West”

That is a true story by Saad about a discussion over a dinner.

This can be summed up as:- “Beliefs are truer than facts”.

Saad tackles the “Self identifying” culture. “I am a man, even though I don’t have the required equipment, because I self-identify as a man”. Saad responds by saying that his family wants to adopt a dog so they will go out and get a giraffe because, like a dog, it has four legs, a head, two ears, a tail and a neck”

The Parasitic Mind and his many YouTube interviews will tell you “You are Not Alone”. Since reading the book I have adopted the mindset “I’m as mad as hell and I won’t take it anymore”.

“You are upset at MY position? Well, I am offended by YOUR position and under free speech (such as it still exists) I will say what I think and be damned”

Saad ends his book with a chapter “Call to Action”. Detailing strategies for cutting through the Wokeist/SJW crap.

I will briefly mention another book which discusses many of Saad’s themes in a different context. “American Marxism” by Mark Levin. Recently released, a best seller and all about the Marxist engine driving the USA to destruction. It covers how the Marxists and SJW started maybe 20 years ago in colleges and universities and those graduates are now politician activist with a Marxist background. Of course, the additional issue for the USA is Critical Race Theory, BLM, Antifa and The Squad”.

Levin’s last chapter is also a Call To Action with advice how to organise at local levels and how to push back.

I have to admit I found it heavy going and returned it to Audible. Sorry Mark!

“The Parasitic Mind” is easy listening (reading) full of humour, irony and political satire. Saad is an evidence based academic so he cites many examples of wokeism from cancel culture to affected politicians.

Wokeism is a Parasite that affects the mind. It’s a Pandemic. It is based on beliefs. The vaccine is Fact.


 

© Lugosi 2021