The Upside of the IRA

Today at lunch we were discussion terrorist groups, including the IRA. I happened to comment that, "actually, the IRA is the most egalitarian of all terrorist organizations." FamilyMan laughed nervously, and asked rhetorically, "Why am I not surprised that you know that, Granola?" We had a brief discussion on that, and how I happened to be privy to the information -- I had just read a paper on female terrorists, and that information happened to be in said paper. FamilyMan kind of shook his head, "Ok, whatever you say, 'Grand Dragon'." Then I asked, "So, what's wrong with reading papers about female terrorist organizations?" MyBoss picked up on those last words, "There are female terrorist organizations?" He asked, a whole lot surprised. This lead us into a discussion on that, and why women would form and/or join terrorist organizations. According to the paper I read (which I can't cite because it hasn't been published, yet) in some countries where women are viewed as the "honor bearer" and have lost that honor as a result of rape they have an opportunity to regain the family honor by successfully carrying out a suicide mission. Carnivore got a discussed look on his face and what he said wasn't quite what I was expecting, "It's just sick and wrong that they can go and do something that violent and wrong, and it's all O.K. for them, but the women are the ones who end up paying for it with their lives." Exactly, my friend, exactly.

We ended up having a very interesting and insightful discussion on that, brief as it was. In the end, however, they were still curious as to why I had read that paper. "It was on my coffee table and I didn't have anything else to read." "Why was it on your coffee table?" "My roommate is really big into human rights and stuff and is part of a research group and was reading that for her research group." That, and it is really interesting to learn about. It kind of makes me wonder where people find papers like that to leave lying around the house.