Wednesday, December 14, 2005

The Radical Loser

A few years back, even educated, interested people were exposed only to the news and views that were published or republished in their local and national newspapers.

Now there's a plethora of material from all over the globe available to millions of us.

Sign and Sight republishes German material in English. At the moment it has a reprinted article from Der Spiegel called "The Radical Loser," which explores how ordinary losers -- as the author says, this could be any of us -- turn into the kind of people who murder their wives and kids, become terrorists, or become genocidal dictators.

Connection with "Early History?" I'll be teaching Islamic History next fall, and this is relevant.

Update from Phil Paine, who referred this to me:

"Unfortunately it doesn't address the most important issue. Anyone with a brain can tell why some pathetic, self-destructive noodnik will support a messianic ideology and strap a bomb to himself. But he should put some thought into asking why, time and time again, tenured professors at Harvard, the Sorbonne, or the London School of Economics are quite likely to end up supporting the same moronic ideology."

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