why not?
it should be allowed. more lovin for the good lookin folk.

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Only one, but I've been told of several others.

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During the journey we commonly forget its goal. Almost every profession is chosen as a means to an end but continued as an end in itself. Forgetting our objectives is the most frequent act of stupidity.
-Friedrich Nietzsche, The Wanderer and his Shadow

All good socialists have villas in Southern France. That's not the point.
-Eurosocialist

I don't guess I care that much, I don't really have anything against polygamy, but IMO it will just lead to other, more bizzare types of "marriage".

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Yeah, like gay marriage.

And incest marriage.

And marriage between man & beast.

Seems I've heard this argument before. . .

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket."

Thomas Jefferson

Gay marriage doesn't bother me a bit. I think that two people of the same gender can have a genuine, loving relationship. I can't say the same about human-animal marriage. I'm sorry, but that's just bullshit. Incest marriage is wrong. I'm not big on morals but the line has to be drawn somewhere.

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I don't see anything wrong with siblings marrying and having sex. They just shouldn't have any children.

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Is our children learning? -George W. Bush

"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

That's totally demented. Sorry. It just is.

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While I personally find it distasteful I agree so far as I do not think the state should have in say as far as it's legality. Consenting adults should make those decisions.

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"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

It is interesting that the one point cited in this thread (#4) is the one point in the article that gives the least satisfying and most questionable 'explanation' of the given phenomena in purely socio-biological terms.

It is acknowledged that most suicide bombers that we have recorded knowledge of, probably were of the Muslim faith. That much is likely verifiable and generally believable. However, the socio-biological explanation given in the article seems rather far-fetched or too selective for such limited data set.

No mention is made of Japanese kamikaze pilots in WWII with their suicide bombing missions, or their Shinto faith, or the lack of Mormon terrorists and other polygamist non-terrorists. Secondly, suicide bombing is essentially a mixture of two modern phenomena - combining suicide attacks with terrorist bombing - and follows a natural or predictable progression or escalation that has roots going back well into the 19th century, independent of Muslim polygamy or the promise of 72 virgins.

The modern era corresponds with a small number of 'Christian' nations being the most powerful nations on earth, and 'Muslim' nations being considerably less so. Terrorism itself is a rational tactic from either side in any modern form of asymmetrical warfare, though more likely from the 'weaker' of the two - since they have more to gain and less to lose. Therefore, it is rational to expect to find that Muslims are the most common form of 'suicide bomber' that we know about, since they make up a majority of the known terrorist acts that we know of as well - using only the US official definition of terrorism.

Other than that, the other nine points mentioned in the article did sound much more plausible and interesting. The book looks like it might be a fun one to read.

frankly, i never gave it much thought when i highlighted #4, other than i thought it was rather amusing that the rationale behind Muslim suicide bombers was simply that they were hard up...

its all a bit of conjecture mixed with "junk" science and add in a little sex for good measure, it makes good bathroom reading material, but i wouldn't count on it making the short list for next year's Nobel prizes.

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My boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble (Hey-la-day-la my boyfriend's back). . .

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket."

Thomas Jefferson

to publish an article in psychology today?

I think you may have your disciplines mixed.

In fact, suicide bombing as a modern phenomenon began in Sri Lanka - without a Muslim in sight ... and religion wasn't part of it. The early Lebanese suicide bombers included Christians, Marxists and Muslims ....

If Muslims make up a majority of known terrorist attacks - I would argue that this is a majority of known terrorist attacks from a western POV. I am sure that Sri Lankas would disagree, and India is currently experiencing problems with Maoist rebels ... an overflow from problems in Nepal that is extending through several provinces ...

Terrorism is a method used by those who identify themselves as having a 'just' cause ... but are disadvantaged in terms of weaponry and military might. That innocent people get killed is often easier for them to ignore because, whether rightly or wrongly, they see innocents on their side getting killed ... in which case the term 'innocent' ceases to have any meaning.

If it were a Muslim phenomena (apart from the 72 virgins) then we would have seen suicide bombing being the norm in places like Sierra Leone and Liberia as well, where a significant percentage of the population are Muslim ... or used commonly in Somalia as a way of fighting government forces and or/foreign troops, which is a Muslim country. It wasn't used in these places as rebel forces had easy access to weapons that tended to 'even the score.'


As for the 72 virgins ... in a more collectivist/traditional culture individual rewards are probably less important than in an individualist modern culture - which is something that is quite clearly not understood by the author.

He/she also appears to be unaware that suicide bombers have included women - including women who have lost relatives - even a grandmother who became radicalised after a rocket killed 19 children.

The 72 virgins probably wouldn't be a significant factor for them .... although they might fancy the white raisins .... but to die for? I don't think.

Perhaps in the sense that makes one say:

Greetings and Felicitations,

There are a couple of points I would like to make.

1. The authors of the article never said that polygyny was the sole reason for the existence of suicide bombers. They have simply stated that competition for available mates could be a significant force motivator for their existence.

2. This is the one that really gets me. Most, if not all, of the replies have focused on the pleasure side of sexual activity. I would like to remind the posters that pleasure is, evolutionarily speaking, merely a side effect of the sex drive. The main purpose of sex is procreation. Surely there are other reasons for sex but evolution didn't create sex for fun. It created sex to further the various species that use it as a means of ---- reproduction. Let me further state that this is not an argument against homosexuals. It simply represents a base reality. The main purpose of the sexual organs is to provde a means for swapping genetic material.

3. Female suicide bombers are a very recent development. Viewed from a certain perspective it to can be seen as related to offspring. The women who choose to perform these actions are seeking to create a world that puts more value on the offspring of their particular group.

In Peace,
Eglaelin

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