Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id GAA04207 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 9 Jan 2002 06:50:33 GMT Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.0.20020109013823.02dc3840@pop.cogeco.ca> X-Sender: hkhenson@pop.cogeco.ca X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1 Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2002 01:47:24 -0500 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk From: Keith Henson <hkhenson@cogeco.ca> Subject: Re: CRASH CONTAGION In-Reply-To: <000f01c19884$2dbc3a60$01a6bed4@default> References: <5.1.0.14.0.20020107234947.034feec0@pop.cogeco.ca> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
At 09:35 PM 08/01/02 +0100, you wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Keith Henson <hkhenson@cogeco.ca>
>
> > Moving on to the crash kid, in a tribal environment, gaining a lot of
> > attention by some heroic act is the obvious way to improve your chances to
> > obtain a wife. (Status and sex anyway.) You see someone getting a lot of
> > attention and if you are no good at sorting out negative and positive
> > attention, you emulate ben Ladin, or rather in this case, the memeoids
> > created by ben Ladin and his cult.
>
>Hi Keith,
>
>Some odd questions, though !
>Maybe I am on the wrong track here, but how on earth you gonna get
>a wife, a girlfriend by emulating bin Laden and his cult... in America these
>days !?
>A heroic act !? He died !
People *often* die in heroic acts. And it make no difference if you or I
think he was doing something stupid, what is important to understand his
actions from an evolutionary psychology viewpoint is how he felt about it.
>Obtaining attention and a wife were not the boys
>motives to crash a plane in a building !
I disagree. A substantial fraction of what people do is directed toward
gaining status. Those actions led directly to reproductive success (most
of the time and in a tribal environment).
>In my newspaper this morning the fact that the boy was a fan of King
>Arthur and his knights of the Round Table was brought up. Maybe we
>are looking to pick holes in the boys his clothes, but a psychologist on
>the news did mention the following,
>" It is strange that youngsters, 14- 19, are crashing planes in building,
>set whole forests on fire and burn down churches."
>Maybe the boy was just another tiny piece of a worldwide spread
>(virus)-puzzle !?
>Maybe the boy was not imitating bin Laden, but his fellow- youngsters
>in Australia !?
>
>Setting fire to a nearby wood would not have giving the same impact
>than crashing a plane in a building !
>Teens imitate teens, remerber ! Nurture by the kin- group is far more
>important than the teaching of the eldery, parents, bin Laden or other-
>wise !
Maybe, but the note found on him was clear about bin Laden.
Keith Henson
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