Why become a suicide bomber?

[GURUving]

I am serious. What has to be going on in the mind of the individual and the community to cause this to happen? It is usually younger people, even teenagers, that do this because of "indoctrination"?

What kind of life would a person have to be living to not only verbally commit to, but actually carry out a suicide attack? Is it desperation? Where does it come from?

This is obviously the final action in a persons life. Do they do it for love of Allah or love of community or to somehow protect in the future their family?

I just don't get it.

[private_ryan]

1. anger, nothing to lose, topped with 72 virgins and

a promise that your family will be cared and that you'll looked as a martyr. That's a lot for many of them.

[Hippo_Tron]

10. Hell if I lived in one of those countries...

I'd probably consider that a sweet deal for my life.

[plurality]

29. sooo tired of the 72 virgins crap

what about the female suicide bombers? do you think the 72 virgins are such a huge motivating factor for them too?

[private_ryan]

31. why are you tired?

is it false? Don't the promise those to martyrs? Tired or not tired, if it's true, it's true. If it's not, please provide link. Just because women do it doesn't mean men aren't promised 72 virgins if they die that way.

[rman]

35. it's a case misspelling/translation error;

It appears that originally the promise of the Islamic here-after includes 72 kinds of grapes, which would be a culinary luxury.

[YNGW]

2. Some of them...

... probably had trouble while playing "Name That Tune" and the depression that followed, then BOOM!!!!!

(inside joke between me and GURUving) ;)

[GURUving]

4. Boom Boom Out Go the Lights!

uh huh!

:)

[bhunt70]

3. no hope, no end of turmoil in sight.

No personal value to your physical life because of the situation you are in. I think it is a last ditch effort with the promise of a better life in the afterworld.

Give them ak-47's or something like that and I bet there would be a lot less suicide bombings.

[gmoney]

5. Nothing left to lose?

I'd say a lot of these bombers get SO fed up with the brutality and injustice of their lives, and they realize it's not likely to get better for them. So, if they believe their actions CAN help create a better world for their surviving family and culture, at least they'll die knowing they struck a blow for their cause against their oppressor.

Not to mention the "glory" of martyrdom, the promise of 72 virgins, dying for one's country, etc. How is it much different than enlisting in an army where you know you'll serve until you're slaughtered -- maybe without actually making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country? (to paraphrase Patton)

I don't condone it... just not that hard to understand it.

[GURUving]

8. I guess I just have the mindset that doesn't accept this

How can a human being give up their life while killing others they don't know, that are probably civilians, and think somehow this is going to help the cause?

It causes fear, sure, but fear is always there anyway.

I just look at it as a waste of life. What could that person have contributed to the world?

[arewethereyet]

6. its the money

worst still, the parents are the primary ones talking the kids into it so they can have the money. Oh yeah and Allah will like it and all.

Don't even try and make sense of it, there is none.

[Military Brat]

7. idealism of youth, revenge, religion, lack of hope, love of country

Any number of factors, or a combination.

Isn't there a Biblical quotation about "no greater love than to lay down one's life for another"? That's what they're doing. They're killing themselves because they believe it will eventually improve the lives of those left behind. Kind of like if enough bodies are squashed on the tracks, sooner or later the train has to stop because it can't plow through them anymore.

[DS1]

9. Acceleration Junkies Gone Bad?

:shrug:

[GURUving]

11. It happens!

poor bastards.

[FDRrocks]

12. Money for your family

Of course.

[Cronus Protagonist]

13. Great benefits, physically undemanding, money for your mother

And there's plenty of open vacancies.

"Lick Bush" Buttons, Stickers & Magnets

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[w4rma]

36. That sounds exactly like how many Republicans talk about liberals. (n/t)

[SheilaT]

15. Those of us living

in places like the U.S. have almost no conception of what life is like for the people who become suicide bombers. Anyone who has been seriously depressed would have a clue, and anyone who's given any serious consideration to suicide need only think a little longer to realize that if one's death could actually accomplish some good (as the suicide bomber thinks) then it makes a great deal of sense.

And our culture does its best to convince young men and women that dying for their country is good and honorable, which isn't really all that different from being a suicide bomber.

[GURUving]

17. Very thoughtful post

thank you.

I guess I have a hard time imagining that depression causes it, though. I don't know.

[Silverhair]

16. They are usually upper middle class, well educated, iintensely

devoted to Allah and to their politics. I can't remember where I read the article, so I don't have a link.

[jobycom]

21. Revolutions are usually fought by the middle or upper class

When the masses rise up, it is usually a riot, and it subsides, usually after destroying only the property and lives of the poor. Only when the middle and upper classes feel threatened or ignored are there true revolutions. That's where the leaders of the next regime come from. The leaders of the revolutions might try to use the masses, but the masses are not organized to succeed.

These suicide bombings are organized by the leaders in the middle and upper classes, and their rhetoric works best on those in the same classes, because those in the lower classes know little will change if the new leaders take over. They may prefer the new leaders, but they are less likely to die for them.

[corporatewhore]

18. when children see their fathers jailed and tortured

their homes bulldozed tanks coming in and patrolling Their loved ones killed in massacers such as jenin a wall twice as high and six times as long as berlin being built around them and have no access to clean drinking water no work available constant violence from neighboring settelers i could see why one in four children in the occupied territories want to go and blowthemselves up taking others with them.I found this lovely statistic from palestinian women at the women in war conference sponsered by the afsc i am not saying it is justified but violence breeds violence.One of my friends who went to palestine with a peace group said she was scared in Israel that she would be blown up on a bus when she first started her trip but then at the end said she was more affraid of the idf.She also told me that it was just horrible to see the kids play because all their games where based on war or vviolence it is i believe from growing up in oppressionldren in the occupied territories

[jobycom]

19. Because to them, THEY are fighting for freedom, and WE are its enemy

How far would you go to protect everything you believe in? If we were taken over by a nation who denied us all rights, stole our resources, killed us at will, locked us into territories we weren't allowed to leave, refused to listen or even acknowledge we were speaking any time we tried to protest, and were too immense to fight, what would you do? You might say you would fight back, but if you did, you were certain to simply be killed by that power while achieving nothing. You could try to tolerate it, to make the most of it, but the war keeps coming to you as friends are killed, as you run up against the confinement and poverty created by them, as you watch them live off your wealth and tell the world that you earned your own fate, that you were the violent one.

So not fighting means leaving under their yoke, and fighting means certain, meaningless death. But you could make that death less meaningless. You could do the one thing that makes that power take notice, that even scares that power. You could do the one thing that lets you win, even if you will never enjoy that victory, while at the same time maybe making life in the future better for your friends, and family.

It's a way of fighting. All soldiers know they might die. Imagine being a soldier who knew he would die. Would you go Rambo, and take out as big a chunk of the opposition as you could?

We do not understand defeat or futility in this nation. We will, though, if we don't come to grips with our hubris.

[Isome]

22. Finally... empathy! Thanks for that post!

I think the inability to empathize stems from either unconscious/subconscious dehumanization of them, or a case of believing the hype that their plight is all of their own making.

[camero]

23. I had the same thought. And even further.

Suppose a group of people said that America was the promised land of the religious text that these people went by said their god chose them to have this land. And they proceeded to snatch up the original 13 colonies by international mandate.

You get kicked out of your home with nothing but the clothes on your back.

We also used this same approach with the Native Americans and we called it, "Manifest Destiny".

[blindpig]

38. bingo!

A land grab is a land grab.

[NoKingGeorge]

32. Their culture Lives their Religion.

Not just on Sunday. Their lives are governed by Religious beliefs.
One belief is that if you take an innocent life you must die. That is why Hamas does not use AK-47's etc.

[bleedingheart]

20. young people are easily manipulated

they are filled with emotion and the fire of idealism...and make perfect targets..

common sense doesn't set in until you are a bit older.. and unfortunately those kids never reach that point..

[Orangeone]

24. If you grow up

Seeing your friends getting shot by Israeli soldiers for throwing stones/or for being in the wrong place at the wrong time--wouldn't you rather die on your own terms while taking out some of your enemies?

[KFC]

25. The final act of losers

See the Columbine killings for a domestic example.

[DrWeird]

26. Nothing left to live for plus...

am unbridled hatred for a far more powerful enemy.

It's why Al Qaeda did it, it's why Japan did it, and americans would do it too if backed into a corner.

[Nlighten1]

27. Because the pay is good?

Dunno.

[MysticMind]

28. Loss of power...

These suicide bombers come from societies who have allowed "holy" people to dominate "heathens"; men to dominate women; and conservatism to dominate liberalism.

Globalization is now forcing these societies to liberalize and take away the dominance these conservative elements have had.

Also modern Islam has preached that killing yourself while killing ungodly sinners is the ultimate form of power. The only freedom these idiots are fighting for is the freedom to dominate others.

[citizen snips]

30. Extreme hate.

Extreme hate and anger drives a person to become a suicide bomber.

[amazona]

33. many teens in all societies are suicidal

I suppose it's the uproar from the changing hormones. Unfortunately, if you have a group of people who want to channel that energy, then they will succeed in finding plenty of willing victims. We haven't figured out how to stop young people in their teens and early 20s from killing themselves even with the best will in the world; I bet most of us in this discussion have lost one or more friends to sucidie. So finding people who want to die, especially young people, is not the hard part.

What we need to be doing is to figure out how to catch and prosecute those who encourage these young people to kill themselves and others. There needs to be more exposure of those who would sit comfortably in the background and encourage another to blow herself up. Easy to say, not so easy to do, I guess. Hell, we can't even catch Osama and Omar, apparently.


As far as does the suicidal person do it for love of family or Allah, they may give themselves all sorts of excuses, but where the rubber hits the road, they are doing it because they are suffering from an illness that causes them to want to die. I've seen interviews with family members who are furious that their child was enticed to die in this manner. And my guess is that Allah, like most Gods, does not appreciate those who would willingly destroy his creation; isn't suicide a sin?

My feeling is...the suicide bomber is a victim both of an illness (suicidal depression or some related mental illness) and of certain groups who want to profit from threat and misery. An ugly thing all around.

[solinvictus]

34. Because they hate freedom!

Didn't you hear the president? Geez, some people! ;)

[rman]

37. well, they're evildoers aren't they

and everyone understands that evildoers do evil. It's that simple. Much like the communists, though they weren't so much evildoers as they were devils, if i recall correctly. Rumsfeld probably knows, since he's a neo-Reaganite.
Doesn't that explain everything? I think it's quite convenient that the government helps us see who our enemies really are.