Tuesday, September 02, 2008

I'm an Extremist? Yeah, baby!

So, according to a study done by two professors from Oxford University (though one has now moved to University of Durham, England), engineers make up the highest percentage of jihadis. Go figure. You're highly trained in all things technical, where watching a TV show that the guy says "Today, we're going to learn to make plutonium from common household items" sounds like a good time, but you can't get a job because you don't know the right person to bribe.

Oh, and women are strictly verboten.

You have an overabundance of hormones, no outlet, and after graduation, golly, gee, you also have a lot of free time.

Here's what gets me. Engineers are upset by this, calling it "ethnic profiling".

WHAAAAAAAAT!?

Ethnic profiling? Oh, get a clue. Better yet, here's a nickel. Go get a personality. And bring me back my change. I never realized wearing pocket protectors and glasses-with-tape-on-the-bridge made me a legit ethnic group. If so, do my flood pants put me in an extra special category?

Okay, I, a Purdue-trained electrical engineer, am not the least bit surprised by this finding. Not even a little bit. Unfortunately, it's not something I can put into words. I just understand it.

Second, it's this type of information that, if accurate, will help us to either (a) root out these "engineers" and kill them or (b) stop them from becoming bombers and extremists. It's another data point.

So, all you who are calling this "ethnic profiling" need to grow up. Stop trying to kill the messenger. Deal with the message.

UPDATE: I just checked and the paper is not available from the author's web site. Shouldn't be too hard to find elsewhere on the Internet, though.

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