Yes the two subjects are connected and yes the latter is a statement of the obvious. But the analysis that leads to such an obvious conclusion is interesting. From "Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature."
The surprising answer from the evolutionary psychological perspective is that Muslim suicide bombing may have nothing to do with Islam or the Koran (except for two lines in it). It may have nothing to do with the religion, politics, the culture, the race, the ethnicity, the language, or the region. As with everything else from this perspective, it may have a lot to do with sex, or, in this case, the absence of sex.
What distinguishes Islam from other major religions is that it tolerates polygyny. By allowing some men to monopolize all women and altogether excluding many men from reproductive opportunities, polygyny creates shortages of available women. If 50 percent of men have two wives each, then the other 50 percent don't get any wives at all.
Angry young men plus a fantastic doctrinal promise;
The other key ingredient is the promise of 72 virgins waiting in heaven for any martyr in Islam. The prospect of exclusive access to virgins may not be so appealing to anyone who has even one mate on earth, which strict monogamy virtually guarantees. However, the prospect is quite appealing to anyone who faces the bleak reality on earth of being a complete reproductive loser.
I would add that suicide bombers have also attained a status of pop-culture icons in many Islamic societies and as the young lad in the above photo suggests, role models. Nice.
Interesting read that also includes a look at "men prefer blondes," "having sons reduces the likelihood of divorce" and "beautiful people have more daughters."
4 comments:
Heh. A man must have written that quote. It's funny because it only talks about the potential sexual frustration of weak, little men--because of thwarted sexual access to female bodies. The quote makes suicide bombing into a crisis of masculinity, which it may well be. I could be worse, I guess, suicide bombers could be rapists and bombers.
that was a good article soob.
Hey Ortho. Not a man but two men. I agree, the article leaves out many elements, the political, economic and social conditions within environments that produce suicide bombers (hence my short addition.) But then the article is written from the aspect of psychology, not sociology or geo-political science. Still pretty damn interesting, eh?
Thanks Munz.
Unmarried young men also provide a pool of troops for conquering neighboring countries, and taking their women.
Wasn't that (approximately) the role of the non-firstborn son in Europe in the middle ages? Instead of having no wife they had no land, and had to acquire it on their own.
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