Sociology and Explanations (Re: Hitchens responds to critics

[Doug Henwood]

Ted Winslow wrote:

>Yoshie wrote:
>
>>  It is possible that the terrorists who committed the 9/11 bombings
>>  had "relations in infancy and childhood" that played "a crucial role
>>  in the development of this [terrorist?] mentality [sic]."  However,
>>  even if such were really the case (which would be impossible to prove
>>  or disprove, in my view), it would still make sense politically for
>>  anti-war activists to focus only on the causes of terrorism that
>>  could become targets of collective political actions.  I don't think
>>  it's necessary for an anti-war teach-in to include tips on
>>  psychoanalytically better parenting.
>
>That's true.  It might be a good idea to avoid substituting contempt for
>argument though.

All of life isn't a teach-in. Don't we have an interest in 
understanding why people do ghastly things?

Doug