Saudi author and cleric, “Dr.” Muhammad Al-‘Arifi advises men on how to beat their wives.

“Admonish them — once, twice, three times, four times, ten times,” he advised. “If this doesn’t help, refuse to share their beds.”

And if that doesn’t work? He asks.

“Beat them,” one of the 3 responded.

“That’s right,” Al-‘Arifi said.

Corporal punishment was the norm in Canada in my lifetime. (I never did get “The Strap” in school, but many of my pals did.)

Today teachers would be jailed for it.

But in many cultures, especially Islam, it’s still considered correct tough love.

The treatment of women in Muslim countries is horrible, overall.

When I was in Buddhist Sri Lanka a few years ago, teachers and parents were astonished that you could not hit kids. “How do you teach them anything?”, one gymnastics coach asked me.

Pat Condell (born 1 November 1951) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, and Internet personality. An outspoken atheist, Condell hosts a series of widely-viewed short video monologues denouncing religion.

Wikipedia

He’s actually an unpaid internet sensation, racking up over over 15 million hits on videos like this.

… some profanity

I’ve often taken a pro-Islam stance on this blog … as a reaction to the unfair demonization of all Muslims everywhere. Over 99% of anti-Islam rhetoric is over-the-top.

But in this case, I’m happy that Pat Condell has a platform to speak his piece. Saudi Arabia is a fair target. Why did George Bush invade Iraq instead of the homeland of the bin Laden family?

Almost all of the plane hijackers were Saudi Arabian.

Saudi oil money protects that backward nation. It will be interesting to see what happens when the oil money runs out.

In response to my Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 post Warren referred me to an excellent Psychology Today article:

Suicide missions are not always religiously motivated, but according to Oxford University sociologist Diego Gambetta, editor of Making Sense of Suicide Missions, when religion is involved, the attackers are always Muslim. Why? The surprising answer is that Muslim suicide bombing has nothing to do with Islam or the Quran (except for two lines). It has a lot to do with sex, or, in this case, the absence of sex.

What distinguishes Islam from other major religions is that it tolerates polygyny. By allowing some men to monopolize all women and altogether excluding many men from reproductive opportunities, polygyny creates shortages of available women. If 50 percent of men have two wives each, then the other 50 percent don’t get any wives at all.

So polygyny increases competitive pressure on men, especially young men of low status. It therefore increases the likelihood that young men resort to violent means to gain access to mates. By doing so, they have little to lose and much to gain compared with men who already have wives. Across all societies, polygyny makes men violent, increasing crimes such as murder and rape, even after controlling for such obvious factors as economic development, economic inequality, population density, the level of democracy, and political factors in the region.

However, polygyny itself is not a sufficient cause of suicide bombing. Societies in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean are much more polygynous than the Muslim nations in the Middle East and North Africa. And they do have very high levels of violence. Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a long history of continuous civil wars—but not suicide bombings.

The other key ingredient is the promise of 72 virgins waiting in heaven for any martyr in Islam. The prospect of exclusive access to virgins may not be so appealing to anyone who has even one mate on earth, which strict monogamy virtually guarantees. However, the prospect is quite appealing to anyone who faces the bleak reality on earth of being a complete reproductive loser.

It is the combination of polygyny and the promise of a large harem of virgins in heaven that motivates many young Muslim men to commit suicide bombings. Consistent with this explanation, all studies of suicide bombers indicate that they are significantly younger than not only the Muslim population in general but other (nonsuicidal) members of their own extreme political organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. And nearly all suicide bombers are single.

If you’ve not seen the article, it’s well worth the read:

Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature

Men like blond bombshells (and women want to look like them)

Humans are naturally polygamous

Most women benefit from polygyny, while most men benefit from monogamy

Most suicide bombers are Muslim

Having sons reduces the likelihood of divorce

Beautiful people have more daughters

What Bill Gates and Paul McCartney have in common with criminals

The midlife crisis is a myth—sort of

It’s natural for politicians to risk everything for an affair (but only if they’re male)

Men sexually harass women because they are not sexist

Psychology Today: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature