Scott Atran: Reacting to Terror

[AKgooner92]

This is random, But his last name is my First name.

[n3bulous]

Between Atran and Harris, Atran is the more scientific of the two, by far.

Atran's aim is to study, understand, and explain.

Harris' aim seems to be to score talking points and win debates.

Atran is an illuminator that does actual work in the field to better understand the subject.

Harris is preachy and relies on platitudes.

I'm atheist, but I'm sorry, I can't stand listening to Harris speak.

[n3bulous]

@n3bulous I do, however, disagree with Atran's belief that religion will always be with us.  I'm not sure one way or the other. The future just 10 years from now is impossibly difficult to predict, so who can say what humanity will be like in 10,000 years from now? 1 million years from now? etc.

[FarazR2]

Is it bad if I agree with both Harris and Atran? Harris brings good points, in that justification for beliefs is in fact, necessary. Dialogue is necessary and in general, intellectual pressure would be better for the future than religion/dogma.

As for Atran, he is right that in this case, it's not the beliefs themselves that causes the problem, but the situation. But this is part of human nature as he stated, and could not exist so universally without the medium of unjustified belief.

[citizenOfNowhere777]

@FarazR2 Could not exist so universally without the medium of unjustified belief. I guess you didn't understand what the guy just explained.

[ProfRonconi]

@cnestudy1

Can you explain what a pseudo intellectual is? (and you might also learn to spell it, while you are at it).

[ProfRonconi]

This is amazingly out of touch with reality. So terrorists are mainly marginalized guys who live within a few yards of each other in deprived neighbourhoods? Then how does Atran explain the fact that 9/11 was brought about by wealthy, university-educated guys? Oh, of course: it must be the exception that proves the rule. Silly me.

[citizenOfNowhere777]

@ProfRonconi Wow..just wow..in your hatred, you missed what he explained. He explained the trend has shifted. Gee!

[fuckooo]

@cnestudy1 Exactly right. Those 'four-horseman of the apocalypse' fan-boys sure as hell make me laugh.

[pachucotevvr]

Oh that makes sense because I always wondered why there are not more attacks on the USA if Al Qaeda is a big group and they have so many followers...as the media always try to make look like it

[SeeProfileForDetails]

@pachucotevvr There are not more attacks on the USA the same reason there are not more world war 2's happening in germany. Things change. Airport security is tightened up, how would a terrorist get into a plane these days with even a knife in his pocket?

[pachucotevvr]

@SeeProfileForDetails I was not referring at same kind of attack of 9/11, I was trying to say if Al Qaeda terrorists want to hurt people in the USA, they could easily make bombs and use machine guns and do suicide attacks. It's just interesting for me how the mainstream media sometimes try to portray terrorist groups as maniacs that always want to hurt us at any cost, and the media rarely show the real motives why they do these kind of attacks.

[SeeProfileForDetails]

@pachucotevvr Ahh yes, the real motive behind muslims under Sharia wanting to kill gay people and infidels or people who leave the religion, is because of USA, it's all usa's fault. For example, the reason they want to kill infidels is because of new york, or alabama.. it's their fault. It's the white people.

[xanthromera]

How does Atran square up with the mass protests over the Danish cartoons? We witnessed Muslims in western cities holding up placards calling for the murder of not just the cartoonists but their wives and children also. Does this have something to do with the local soccer clubs?

[SeeProfileForDetails]

@xanthromera Atran is a giggling little school girl, smiling about a dangerous cult that he considers an innocent soccer team. This man Atran is an intellectual moron, and is not to be trusted. He is a muslim sympathizer and a disgrace to the intellectual community.

[PrincessDesert]

@SeeProfileForDetails I think he's giggling and smiling at the ignorant Americanos who are the most dangerous cult in the world

i'm not being sarcastic lol, if I was muslim with an AK I'd do the same and attack the ignorant

[turbozed]

Atran basically says that the self-professed beliefs of a religious group have nothing to do with their behavior. When a suicide bomber makes a tape explicitly praising paradise and martyrdom before destroying himself and others, Atran would rather we not take the bomber at his own word. This is dangerous and silly thinking that some will take to because it's masked by sophistry and taps into politically-correct dogma such as respect for religion and blamelessness of non-Westerners.

[SeeProfileForDetails]

@turbozed Yep, people forget 9/11 or blame it on Bush.. lots of Atran fans here too. I wouldn't be surprised if Atran joined the 9/11 truther movement.

[jerthemessiah]

this dude is a tard

[brightsuperstition]

@jerthemessiah

Gee, an ad hominem comment gets a bunch of upvotes. An attack without any reasons or evidence to back any of it up. Reminds me of something that right-wing religious fundamentalists do...

What are the chances that the people upvoting are Sam Harris fans...

[jerthemessiah]

@brightsuperstition projecting

[Miken9000]

"...never in human history have so few people caused fear in so many" 2:29 Atran is a voice of reason in a sea of media generated hysteria.

[SeeProfileForDetails]

@Miken9000 No, a voice of reason is not someone who hates white people.

[hyperseauton]

Sam Harris is opposed to this analysis that terror is NOT first and foremost related to fundamentalist religion. What is true? Is Atran right? I youtube, you decide.

[stoprainingonme]

@hyperseauton Out of Sam Harris and Scott Atran one of them has spent years studying the subject, the other has read the Koran

[fuckooo]

@stoprainingonme Good point, but don't let that fact get in the way of Harris' fan-boys.

Atran is a respected anthropologist, his work has influence across a number of disciplines.

Harris spent most of his life getting stoned and traveling around like some sort of glorified drifter.

[SeeProfileForDetails]

@fuckooo Apparently we can sum up 9/11 to a bunch of soccer boys just playing a game. Atran is a truely respectable intellectual moron, like Chomsky. Respect.

[fuckooo]

@SeeProfileForDetailsHe's not exactly saying that, you are just providing a rather unhelpful caricature.

I'd suggest Harris, with books like 'The End of Faith', is the one playing a game. It is after all a book full of non-sequiturs, including a rather perfunctory analysis of the Quran and reliance on the most questionable 'authorities' such as Dershovitz and Goldhagen.

As to your other point about Chomsky and Atran being morons, well it hardly deserves a response.

[citizenOfNowhere777]

@fuckooo Sam Harris used Dershovitz? from now on, I would consider Sam Harris as low as Dershovitz.

[SeeProfileForDetails]

@stoprainingonme Out of Sam Harris and Scott Atran, one of them is sensible, and one of them is an intellectual moron. The moron's name starts with A, standing for Asshole.

[ProfRonconi]

@stoprainingonme

You can spend decades studying anything at all, and get nothing out of it. The acquisition of knowledge requires more than mere dedication: it also takes IQ.

[callmeal84]

@stoprainingonme

Harris is twat

[honnnesty]

Put ww in front of this link and then you see one hour with the 911 gold robbery

.youtube.com/watch?v=BkPRskciq­VM&feature=PlayList&p=910FF044­08D3AE5A&playnext_from=PL&inde­x=0&playnext=1

[geodesicks]

I think the reaction from Pakistan and other Islamic nations to Draw Muhammad Day confirmed the clash of civilizations more than anything else.

[cjhervalles]

@geodesicks No, its more of a clash between religions and modernity.

[geodesicks]

@cjhervalles : Modernity is a weird term. Anything that is contemporary is modern, by definition. Modern Islam is modern because it exists NOW.