maslow

Remember when Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower said we would never defeat the Nazis until we understood their underlying psychological motivations?

Neither do I.

Via CNS News:

As part of its ongoing “countering violent extremism” campaign, an administration official has delivered another speech highlighting a range of factors that “push” young people towards terrorism – but with no reference to Islamic teachings.

Speaking in Geneva on Monday, Undersecretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Sarah Sewall cited a theory in popular psychology – the “hierarchy of needs” – in an attempt to explain why people from widely different backgrounds are attracted to terrorist groups….

Sewall argued that those motives could be examined in line with the “hierarchy of needs,” a theory presented by psychologist Abraham Maslow in the mid-20th century.

Popularly represented as a triangular diagram, the theory holds that human beings have needs beginning with the base physiological (food, shelter etc.); followed by safety (protection, law and order); love and belonging; esteem (status, self-respect etc.) and – at the triangle’s peak – self-actualization (fulfilment, personal growth etc.)

And here’s her boss, Lurch John Kerry, echoing the same “we need to understand them” theme in February:

God help us if this dope incompetent clown Democrat decides to jump into the presidential race.

Via CNS News:

Declaring that “you cannot defeat what you don’t understand,” Secretary of State John Kerry…suggested some reasons why tens of thousands of young people are flocking to join terrorist groups in the Middle East.

Among some of the likely motivations he listed were deprivation, a desire to avenge the death of a loved one, a response to “acts of discrimination or repression,” the desire to belong to a group, and “rebellion against anonymity.”

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5 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. Dave says:

    There is no logical rationale to understanding the deep evil involved in the German people of the era from 1930 to 1940. They were swept away in a psychotic delusion because of their pride. They were given a mechanism by the authorities to murder on a colossal scale and they ran with it. It was like a human sacrifice to honor a fiendish god. All human societies are capable of such behavior because of an arrogant wickedness born into our souls. We all are fallen creatures that desperately need redemption from a loving God.

  2. idaho_karen says:

    Satan is stalking the earth to find mindless followers for his last effort against man and God. Satan has found in the Middle Easterners a loyal army.

  3. Alain41 says:

    (Since our resident psychologist is being restrained, I’ll comment on Maslow.) Maslow developed his Hierarchy of Needs by looking at positive healthy people. He states that it is the steps that healthy people take to self-actualization. Should not be applied to the non-healthy and definitely shouldn’t be used in reverse that if not followed then you become unhealthy.

    (Maslow has his critics. Christina Hoff Sommers co-wrote something critical.)

  4. strider says:

    Just like the professors in the 50’s sci-fi movies trying to understand and communicate with aliens and other monsters who then indifferently smash them. Same mentality or some form of bizarre egotism that sometimes spreads like mildew in some academic situations.

  5. ancientwrrior says:

    B.S. just plain old B.S. These learned? people espousing their intelligent theories, are nothing more than snake oil hucksters of the past fleecing the dummies of their money. These people come up with this screed to justify their existence. There is no mystery about this. Evil exists in this world, and some people are drawn to it. Simple no?

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