Majority of Terrorists are Male

[Petros2015]

And for that matter, one of the primary roles of a man has been to protect women from other men for many thousands of years.

It's true - so while the majority of terrorists or predators are males, it is also true that the majority of dedicated protectors are also males. And, the majority of protectors outweighs (I think?) the majority of terrorists or predators. There's probably a large category that falls somewhere in the middle of a grey area, they would go one way if there was opportunity, or might find themselves rising to defender. Some might be defenders, but more in the 'defending my sexual property' sense, rather than the 'defending my family' or 'defense of a stranger' sense. Some might even play both in their lifetimes depending on the circumstance. Some might think themselves in one camp, when they are actually in the other (ala the 'nice guy' misogynist, who eventually identifies an InCel, and then shoots women in a Yoga studio)

Florida Yoga Studio Shooter Is Latest in String of Violence By Incels – Rolling Stone

 

[Petros2015]

In a nutshell, we have it in us (both men and women) to be great or terrible. So let us choose carefully.

"There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him. And the higher and mightier it is in the natural order, the more demoniac it will be if it rebels. It's not out of bad mice or bad fleas you make demons, but out of bad archangels."

“There is something in natural affection which will lead it on to eternal love more easily than natural appetite could be led on. But there's also something in it which makes it easier to stop at the natural level and mistake it for the heavenly. Brass is mistaken for gold more easily than clay is. And if it finally refuses conversion its corruption will be worse than the corruption of what ye call the lower passions. It is a stronger angel, and therefor, when it falls, a fiercer devil.”

~C.S. Lewis, the Great Divorce

 

[MehGuy]

It always takes two to achieve balance. While God is one, God has both male and female qualities. Able to nurture, care, and protect like a mother. Have the empathy, compassion, sensitivity, of a woman and to use any force necessary to achieve justice as a male.

You have to wonder about the potential and expression of said qualities.

Personally I agree that there are average gender differences. The biggest being the empathy spectrum. Men are probably on the lower scale veering towards psychopathy while women are on the higher scale veering towards sadism. Sadism being an expression of empathy, since the ability to empathize with another in pain is part of the emotional stimulate.

How do we determine which one produces more nurturing qualities? Or negative/violent qualities? I would argue that both sides of the empathy expression results in varied positive and negative traits. Some even superficially looking like the other. A building is on fire, perhaps the one with a lower emotional empathetic response is needed in order to be more calm and collected and get the job done in saving the poor souls before the fire consumes them? A man who is more distant yet breaks his back bringing food in the table is engaging in their own form of nurturing and caring.

Is empathy always a good thing? Science seems to be showing that its more complicated. Paul Bloom has a few interesting talks about empathy and the problems it can cause. Munchausen by proxy seems to be more of a female issue, and one that is probably the result of wanting to feed off empathetic/nurturing feelings.

We might be surprised that many terrorists and those we label as "hyper masculine" might in fact have more "feminine" traits. A man who is more emotionally sensitive and empathetic might have more of an incentive and drive to attack others they think deserve it.

 

[timewerx]

We might be surprised that many terrorists and those we label as "hyper masculine" might in fact have more "feminine" traits. A man who is more emotionally sensitive and empathetic might have more of an incentive and drive to attack others they think deserve it.

Many times, the perpetrators isn't fighting for their religious cause nor for justice, it's simply primordial male instinct.

Read the crimes committed by the genocidals wars inflicted by either the Christian Crusades, Islamic expansions, tribal genocides in Africa. They all follow the same pattern regardless of religious belief.

 

[kdm1984]

The book of James addresses lust for war in chapter four. It has to do with pleasure. Some men, more often than women, can often find pleasure in dominating violently, but this isn't the Christian way. Christ Himself never dominated with violence, and He is the model for all men of all-time.

The men in my family are a rather noble lot in this respect. My dad isn't good at theology, but he's always been very loving and generous. Meanwhile, my husband isn't a believer, but he loves protecting me. I can't picture either of them ever getting into terrorist or violent groups. It's just not who they are.

We must always be careful with generalities. Yes, they exist, but they aren't absolutes. In a host of issues, for example, I'm characteristically unfeminine. I'd be much more likely to be violent than empathetic, given my autism diagnosis and some past behavioral issues. But biologically, I'm female.

So I wouldn't get too hung up on issues like men being terrorists, or women being fashion-obsessed gossips, or whatever else we hear all the time. Not everyone struggles with these issues. Men and women aren't monolithic. Scripture doesn't obsess over those kinds of generalities. And it always has the best answers for these kinds of questions.

 

[Petros2015]

Sadism being an expression of empathy, since the ability to empathize with another in pain is part of the emotional stimulate.

uh... I don't think Sadism is an expression of empathy, I think it's an expression of Evil in the absence of compassion. It actually goes beyond the absence of compassion, past the point of 0 and into the deeply negative.

I think some people might respond with Sadism in cases where they feel they have themselves been hurt (usually ego threatened) and now the power tables are turned. In some other cases, you have the torturer who 'enjoys his job' and isn't doing it to get information. He just likes the power dynamic and gets off on it. Pain is his way of driving the point home of who is on what side of it.

 

[MehGuy]

Many times, the perpetrators isn't fighting for their religious cause nor for justice, it's simply primordial male instinct.

Read the crimes committed by the genocidals wars inflicted by either the Christian Crusades, Islamic expansions, tribal genocides in Africa. They all follow the same pattern regardless of religious belief.

What is this "primordial male instinct"? Hierarchy? Dominance? I'm sure many of those warriors with battle scars who came back home after slaughtering villages had plenty of female admirers. Women have a sense for dominance and hierarchy too. They're just more safety oriented on average, and society in the past and currently largely encourages women to be more passive. Men and women evolved to desire similar goals. Which makes me laugh when some feminists have no problem about talking about a certain population of men being bad, yet if someone brings up that a certain population of women are attracted to bad men they throw a fit.

If we ever do achieve equal gender representation, I do not see how our similar psychological goals will not also be similarly acted out.

 

[MehGuy]

uh... I don't think Sadism is an expression of empathy, I think it's an expression of Evil in the absence of compassion. It actually goes beyond the absence of compassion, past the point of 0 and into the deeply negative.

I understand that it's probably strange to equate sadism and empathy. Our culture generally says empathy is good and the more of it you have the better. Sadly like almost anything, empathy can be expressed in very diverse ways. Some good and some bad. I made the connection analyzing my own feelings and fortunately it seems like some professionals are waking up to this concept as well.

Look at it this way, what's going to have more of an emotional impact? Hitting a statue or a living breathing person? A psychopath (those with low/no empathy) would probably feel little difference between the two. He/she is not able to empathize they don't matter.. but for an empathetic person there is a world of difference. Let's separate the cold hearted person (psychopath) between the warm hearted person (sadist).

 

[Noxot]

The vast majority of terrorists or even those who committed genocides are males.

Does anyone think this is more of a gender issue than a religious one?

Men hiding behind religion to justify carnal desires?

i'm sure it's a complex issue but testosterone tends to make us take greater risk and be more violent.

 

[Petros2015]

Yeah, it's complicated. There can be a lot of reasons. I love this particular song though it captures some of them perfectly.

Family Snapshot

The streets are lined with camera crews
Everywhere he goes is news
Today is different
Today is not the same
Today I make the action
Take snapshot into the light, snapshot into the light
I'm shooting into the light
Four miles down the cavalcade moves on
Driving into the sun

If I worked it out right
They won't see me or the gun

Two miles to go, they're clearing the road
The cheering has really begun
I've got my radio
I can hear what's going on

I've been waiting for this
I have been waiting for this
All you people in TV land
I will wake up your empty shells
Peak-time viewing blown in a flash
As I burn into your memory cells
'cause I'm alive

They're coming 'round the corner with the bikers at the front
I'm wiping the sweat from my eyes
It's a matter of time
It's a matter of will
And the governor's car is not far behind
He's not the one I've got in mind
'cause there he is-the man of the hour, standing in the limousine

I don't really hate you
I don't care what you do
We were made for each other
Me and you
I want to be somebody
You were like that too
If you don't get given you learn to take
And I will take you.

Holding my breath
Release the catch
And I let the bullet fly

All turned quiet I have been here before
A lonely boy hiding behind the front door
Friends have all gone home
There's my toy gun on the floor

Come back Mum and Dad
You're growing apart
You know that I'm growing up sad
I need some attention

I shoot into the light

 

[Kalevalatar]

In Islam, you are looking at a patriarchal system. The men teach, the men have authority, and the men are who pass decrees. The women are in the background, this is just the way it is. Therefore, if Islamic radicals are going to attack another religion (Jewish and Christian predominately) it will be done (predominately) by men.

I agree. Patriarchy most likely plays a role in both conservative Islamic extremism as well as in right-wing nationalist extremism, with the female supporters having to play a more traditional "homefront" roles. Whereas the egalitarian Marxist–Leninist ideology of left-wing terrorism is the home to the most in/famous female terrorists: Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, Brigitte Mohnhaupt, Nathalie Ménigon. Civil war/foreign occupation kind of situations are somewhat different (Chechen Black Widows, IRAs female fighters etc.).

 

[RDKirk]

In Islam, you are looking at a patriarchal system. The men teach, the men have authority, and the men are who pass decrees. The women are in the background, this is just the way it is. Therefore, if Islamic radicals are going to attack another religion (Jewish and Christian predominately) it will be done (predominately) by men.

Two things are happening in Islamic nations. One is that the base culture is patriarchal. Another is that the religious text directly, consistently, and explicitly supports it, as well as explicitly asserting the spiritual inferiority of women.

At worse, the religious texts of Christianity are inconsistent, and that inconsistency yet leans against patriarchy.