Certainty Breeds Extremists

Coupland's Hey Nostradamus! is meant to instill doubt in his readers. He seems to have a unique perception on the concept of doubt and faith. Doubt, a word with a more or less negative connotation, is viewed as by Coupland as admirable. With doubt, there is uncertainty and with uncertainty comes humility and an open mind. Without doubt, certainty builds, which leads to arrogance and eventually, closed mindedness. A closed minded individual is often defined as one who is unable to accept ideas or concepts foreign to him. This can be seen in Reg's character during Jason's childhood in Hey Nostradamus!, but how does this lack of doubt translate in the everyday world? One of the ways this lack of doubt parallels reality is religious extremists. If the lack of doubt breed closed mindedness, this would probably be a good explanation as to how extremist groups are formed. Within any religious organization there are likely individuals who are unable to see their situation from a perspective other than their own. These are individuals who bury themselves within the rulebook of their religion and take every vain detail of it to heart and persecute those who don't take their point of view. These closed minded few then isolated themselves from the rest of the organization, where their reassurance of each other further withers the almost nonexistent doubt within them. Soon they take a violent step in their cause in order to draw attention to them or their ideology, justifying their actions as some holy or moral deed for the greater good. This is how extremists are born. This is why Coupland tries to instill doubt in his readers. A doubtless individual with blind faith in his religion can lead to dangerous outcomes due to their inability to listen to reason.