A cell phone image of one of the heads viewed by The Associated Press was inconclusive.
Headline of the Day: Suspect in Murder of UK Model Regrets Sex With Dead Body in Driveway
A beyonder shade of pale.
The link between alcohol and aggression is well known. What’s not so clear is just why drunks get belligerent. What is it about the brain-on-alcohol that makes fighting seem like a good idea? And do all intoxicated people get more aggressive? Or does it depend on the circumstances?
h/t probably that asshole Bryan at Hot Air
Smurka, anticipated by Serr8d, here.
The U.S. military said Wednesday that two women used as suicide bombers in attacks earlier this month had undergone psychiatric treatment but there is no indication they had Down syndrome as Iraqi and U.S. officials initially had claimed.
I love it that the bad thing in this story is presented as the officials “claiming” the women had Down syndrome.
MayBee, I had the same thoughts myself. Someone in her right mind blowing herself and others up is supposedly normal and everyday to some people, while the Down’s Syndrome angle was too hot to stifle. Really, blowing people up was and is and always will be the central part of that story, regardless of the mental state of the bombers. That the terrorists are assholes who don’t fight fair is kind of like saying politicians aren’t always going to honestly follow through on their promises. And I don’t actually remember the US military officials as having claimed the women had Down’s Syndrome. The NYTimes’ story had officials saying something along the lines of “We don’t have anything to discount that report.” And I defended the Times and suggested they were being careful, while certain other people wanted to say it was proof that there was a conspiracy to hide the fact (since clarified) that the women were retards.
And that reminds me of the four most satisfying words in the English language: I told you so.
As for drunks and belligerence, of course there’s a link. For some people. Just as many get less aggressive. Gee, have those scientists and would-be social agents of change ever considered that alcohol might affect different people in different ways under different circumstances? Alas, not yet.
jon- but they weren’t even in their right mind. They had received psychiatric treatment. Usually that would be the story, but apparently it pales in comparison to the deviousness of US and Iraqi officials.
This new one is a curious story: you are right that it is the reversal of the claims that is the new story, and that’s weird. Especially since the claims weren’t made by the officials (as I remember it, anyway.) That they weren’t in their right mind isn’t something we’ll ever know: they could have had situational depression, serious chronic illnesses, or any host of “psychiatric treatment”. Hell, the treatment itself could have been pretty damaging (could Titicut Follies be the Iraqi healthcare plan’s model?,) so there’s still no telling how fucked up the story really is.
This story is sordid from the get-go, and it’s somewhat remarkable that when two women blow themselves and dozens of others up that their mental condition has become the story. Whether they were duped, drugged, willing, half-willing, coerced, or under some sort of euphoric craze-state to redeem themselves for some “moral” offense, the story of what they did is the solid piece of fact that was the headline.
It’s ridiculous that some people still feel a need to further demonize assholes who blow up pet markets in Iraq and require obedience to their “facts” or else they’ll claim that the newspaper is either hiding something or openly rooting for the jihadists. Their known actions damn them enough, so adding rumored “findings” before they are confirmed just isn’t necessary. It can be counter-productive, even.
Re: drunks and belligerence, where’s the mystery? The first thing they all teach us about the idiot oil is that it hits your inhibitions on the head with a lead pipe. Some people have rage and frustration inside that bubbles to the surface when plastered, others have short fuse that liquor pours gasoline, nitroglycerin, and good ol’ American gunpowder on. In either case, a normally innocuous stimuli yields a situation that causes me to spill my beer.
Why are social scientists (or rather, journalists who babble incomprehendingly at social scientits’ musings) so fucking dumb?
“…so there’s old Bert walking down the highway with a sandwich in one hand and the fuckin’ HEAD in the other…”
— M. Emmet Walsh’s boring story from “Raising Arizona”
My brother Tim gets huggy and kissy when he’s blasted.
So I get falling down stupid on most drinks, but when I drink whiskey I get belligerent. Since I’m 5’7″ and 145lbs this can occasionally cause me a problem.
Why are social scientists (or rather, journalists who babble incomprehendingly at social scientits’ musings) so fucking dumb?
College Puddins?