"Arab killing Arab just makes no sense to me."
Arabs are killing Arabs for a variety of reasons that are just as rational as any ethnocentric reason you could give for Arabs not to kill Arabs.
The fundamentally important need for belongingness trumps almost all other social drives. Identifying with and loyalty to group is what defines community.
Loyalty to tribe, religion, race, national origin, extreme liberal chaos, extreme oppressive totalitarianism, etc. can lead to a sense of devotion to the banners of one group identity or another. People of normal intelligence often compromise reason and a principled conscience for fear of being diminished or outcast all together.
It is this type of commitment to the external emblems of order that tends toward corruption (extremism). The cost is a principled identity of self. Bullies who fear loss of status or power, new members, or those barely in touch as a community member, who are seeking validation are the most likely to lean furthest to extremes.
In our recent generations we have seen a meshing and blending of cultures that will, in short order, define global community. What we lack in this generation is a locus of identity, defining globalized humanity, based on common principle. |
