On 19 Jul 99, at 11:32, O'Regan, Emlyn wrote:
> [risk seeking behaviour]
>
> > As for the assassinations, we might dip into the conspiracy theory
> > waters a bit and speculate that John and Robert Kennedy took excessive
> > risks at the level where real power is wielded behind the scenes. Maybe
> > they crossed the wrong people, refused to go along with the system,
> > tried bluffing people who were playing for keeps. Being President was
> > not enough, it was necessary to raise the stakes even further.
> > Eventually they pushed too hard and were eliminated, making it look like
> > a deranged assassin. (This is more plausible in the case of John than
> > Robert, of course.)
> >
Robert had his share of domestic enemies from his tenure as AG under John. I'm not up on the latest theories of who backed Sirhan Sirhan, though.
> > Hal
> >
> Remember that post a while back about the life expenctancies of world
> leader, and how there is a real big chance of death while in office? Being
> President is risk seeking behaviour in itself.
>
> Emlyn
That part reminds me sharply of pack-animal behavior. The alpha male fends off challenges until he's too weak. Only in H. sapiens sapiens(?) "packs" are the challenges routinely lethal.
Maybe there's something to that sex drive thread -- "cure for testosterone poisoning."