We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Brothers

Richard Dawkin's website has the following lecture (in three parts) by one Prof Andy Thomson and it is well worth watching. The talk deals with psychology of "Suicide Terrorism" and covers some amazing ground regarding human behaviour such as, war as our natural state, in group/out group dynamics and deferring to authority. He also deals with the type of person who is more likely to commit the crime as in the case of female suicide bombers who almost always are suffering from depression, are victims of social rejection (commonly due to being raped & therefore unmarriageable) and, of course, are dominated by their menfolk. He doesn't have go too far back for his examples either, one of the attackers on Glasgow this summer set himself alight but was careful to ensure his genitals did not burn, presumably so that he could enjoy his 70 (odd) virgins when he entered paradise. So do yourself a favour and watch it.

part 1


Part 2


Part 3 (Q&A)