Quote Originally Posted by William F. Owen View Post
Human beings may be RATIONAL, but they are very likely to be UNREASONABLE, and that is where appealing to anything other than their most base instincts. I can show you folk who will starve to death, rather than "degrade" themselves by asking for help.
Try and define co-operations in a way that they can't re-frame as "surrender."
What I struggled most with after the Surge was the reaction of the Sunnis in Zaganiyah. Literally, my friends and neighbors (consisting of doctors, lawyers, and engineers) entered a Hobbesian state after AQI took over the village. After AQ killed or displaced half the town, the remaining civilians took over their neighbor's homes, stole their property and belongings, and even participated in beheadings.

There actions were quite unreasonable.

I continue to struggle with how people can treat each other in such a manner. As I read through the Old Testament and the works of Hobbes, Machiavelli, and John Locke, I have a much more mature understanding of what the authors refered as they describe the state of man. We can be truly ugly in our darkest moments.

v/r

Mike