after the mumbai attacks recently, i have been thinking about what could be the rational the terrorist go on with. there are so many people involved in it. the reasons of joining these camps could be many. but when all such like minded people are going on with a motive, can we label these activities as rational action?
what could be their interest as they go on to give their lives away?.. when they are ready to take this extreme step, there is clear evidence that they value something more than self interest..may be they think of their family(financial security promised to the family), if they do so then it is the collective interest of the family which took over the interest of that individual.
in this case the rationality of an individual or selfishness is missing..
your views about this issue can make things clear...
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6 comments:
as sony sir told today, at individual level rationality is equivalent to self-interest.
Now, the question is whether a terrorist is having ny self-interest or not..
i think a terrorist has self-interest...please understand tat most terrorists are unemployed youths. so, they do it bcos they get money which they use for purchasing good clothes etc in addition to providing for their family...as they perform according to their self-interest, they are rational...
now, at society level power determines rationality...i think america is currently the greatest power...hence rationality is defined by them...and hence as they define terrorism as irrational, it becomes irrational for the world..
now, let us take a hypothetical case in which bin laden is holding global power..then automatically terrorism becomes rational...
this is the way i understand it...criticism's are whole-heartedly invited...
there is an another thought which contradicts my argument earlier...it is when a person is willing to give away his life to satisfy his religious emotions or in other words to secure his life after death, he may be presumed as being rational...but my question still remains with me ..what if all this is done for family's interest..it is subordination of individual interest to family interest..is this a rational act?
In my view, rational may not be viewed as being right. Rationality is a relative term. What is rational for me may not be rational for somebody else. The example given by Joe can be viewed in this respect.
As far as the family is concerned, for a terrorist to give up his life for his family could be seen as a rational act but certainly it is not right from his as well family's point of view.
Terrorist son/father is rational in providing his family monetory support..but that may not be termed as a 'right' act to give up his life...
Comments invited...
rational is defined as somethin which is based on reason. it is acceptable that not all people see the reason the same way we do..we who call ourselves normal beings.....and the terrorists whom we call abnormal and wat not!!! but isnt it not that we see the world the way we want to see it. the so called terrorists must also be havin some reason,some rational reason probably...but who cares about that....as is said reason is determined by powerful and as humans most of us are concerned with self-interest be it the powerful or the weak...so i wonder if osama would also call it rational if it goes against him. well if its going round and round i just want to tell that i feel rationality remains the same for all, its just the interpretations that change
All my friends have given wide and varied views regarding Irfan's concern. One thing that probably was hidden among these comments is why do we forget about survival? As Joe rightly pointed out that these terrorists are unemployed youth, i would like to add that they are not only unemployed but right from the beginning they live and grow in circumstances which justifies there actions. Everyone around them probably talk and do things which might not get our approval and they are oblivious of it. For them its a way of life. There is purpose, glory and a higher objective to their actions. Just as we practice our daily chores hoping for a brighter future which in our sense is the target to chase, they have their own and it is unfortunate that their interests contradicts ours for these self destructive forces would have been an asset to the world as we would have wanted. Exactly as they are threats to us, we are threats to them...Very confusing i guess...
I can substantiate this with an example of fire flies. There is self destruction in their action but that is what they know and it is there intrinsic nature. Similarly i believe that the terrorists live to grow with intentions which might be contradictory to our beliefs.
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