hegemonicon comments on Terrorism is not about Terror - Less Wrong

32 Post author: gwern 24 March 2009 05:08PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (25)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: hegemonicon 25 March 2009 12:28:53AM *  4 points [-]

Fight Club demonstrates this perfectly (even more perfectly in the book, when it's made clear that the main characters entire goal is to get a woman). Men who feel pointless, empty, marginalized by the system they live in are willing to do anything to achieve high-status and a sense of purpose. This so closely resembles terrorism that I would be more interested in terrorist groups and acts that can't be traced to some sort of status or purpose-seeking, as I imagine they are few and far between.

Comment author: InsertUsernameHere 06 October 2015 05:01:48AM 1 point [-]

Fight club doesn't demonstrate anything, because it didn't happen (on account of being a story).