Dave says that violence only begets violence:
> If 4000 years of endless war in the Middle East have taught > us nothing else, it is that more violence only leads to more > violence. We're not dealing with a surly teen-ager here, who > will go into his room and come out later to apologize to Mom > and Dad for being such a jerk.
No, 4000 years of endless war in the Middle East has not taught us that violence leads only to more violence (whatever the hell that means). Really, that kind of rhetoric impresses college girls you're trying to bed, but the rest of us aren't looking for an excuse to have sex with you, so we're less impressed.
There is a lot deeper connection between sex and violence then you would think
Sex leads to more population (if women don't have access to birth control). If the population grows faster than the economy or there is some external factor (like bad weather or running out of oil) that causes an economic downturn, xenophobic memes spread in the population and have the effect of synchronizing the warrior class to attack another tribe (today a nation).
In turn, being attacked turns on defense mechanisms in the attacked tribe. Eventually the attackers wipe out the tribe they are attacking or the attacked tribe fights back and kills the attackers. In either case, all the men on the losing side, and often the boy children are killed and the winners make second or third wives out of the losers female children.
This psychological mechanisms involved were shaped by millions of years living as social primates in tribal societies.
The reason some Islamic countries are generating suicide warriors is that the women are raising kids faster than the economy expands.
More detail if anyone wants it.
Keith Henson
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