5/26/2010

Scott Atran's Understanding of Terrorism

Anthropologist Scot Atran offers some insight into how it is that the privileged become terrorists. He posted his comments nearly 3 weeks ago, so you may already have seen the column. If not, drop by to read what his ideas are on the topic.

2 comments:

Arthur said...

Interesting article. It was pointed out in the comments of the article, but the author's link to monotheism in the introduction seems somewhat unsupported and vague. He begins by stating that monotheism creates fanatics and then deconstructs this argument by saying that a very small proportion of Muslims become fanatics, and those that do are fanaticized by culture, tribe, and circumstance rather than religion per se.

Still very interesting. We have indeed seen that there are wealthy, well-off people who become fundamentalists. I have spoken to Muslims here in the United States, and many of them hope for a new, "purer" (their words) form of Islam to be created here in the United States, that seeks not to convert, but seeks to be understood. I am interested in seeing whether this sentiment is held on a larger scale.

Unknown said...

Very interesting topic, it really helps a lot.

Adam