Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 05-05-2003, 12:49 PM

Who wants to be a martyr?

A new study has revealed that suicide bombers are psychologically well adjusted, tend to be upper income, well educated, socially poised - and find meaning in their religion.

Quote:

A United Nations report indicated that as soon as the United States began building up for the Iraq invasion, Qaeda recruitment has picked up in 30 to 40 countries. Recruiters for groups sponsoring terrorist acts tell researchers that volunteers are beating down the doors to join.

This allows terrorist agents to choose recruits who are intelligent, psychologically balanced and socially poised. Candidates who mostly want virgins in paradise or money for their families are weeded out. Those selected show patience and the ability to plan and execute in subtle, quiet ways that don't draw attention. Al Qaeda, especially, is rarely in a hurry. It can wait years and then strike when least expected.

. . .

Brian Barber, a psychologist at the University of Tennessee, has interviewed some 900 young adults from Gaza and a comparison group of Bosnian Muslims who had also suffered through violence but had not become a source of suicide bombers. The Bosnians had markedly weaker expressions of self-esteem and less hope for the future. Faith was the largest difference: the Palestinians routinely invoked religion to invest personal trauma with social meaning, whereas the Bosnians did not consider religion significant to their life.

This overall pattern was also captured in a white paper by the Parliament of Singapore concerning captured operatives from Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant group allied with Al Qaeda: "These men were not ignorant, destitute or disenfranchised. Like many of their counterparts in militant Islamic organizations in the region, they held normal, respectable jobs. As a group, most of the detainees regarded religion as their most important personal value."

Volker.Doormann · 05-05-2003, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Toto
A new study has revealed that suicide bombers are psychologically well adjusted, tend to be upper income, well educated, socially poised - and find meaning in their religion.

"If the people don't fear death
How will you scare them with death?
If you make the people continuously fear death
By seizing anybody who does something out of the ordinary
And killing them, who will dare to move?
There is always an official executioner to handle this.
If you play the role of the official executioner
It is like cutting wood in the capacity of Master Carpenter.
There are few who will not cut their hands."

(Lao=Tse, born as Li=�ri, 604 BCE in K'hujen, Honan, China.)

luvluv · 05-05-2003, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Religion is the essential ingrediate for suicide bombers

Well, I'd think some explosives were necessary.

Really, you think religion is the only variable in suicide bombings? Then why don't American Christians do it? Gasp! Could it be because they don't live under oppressive socio-economic conditions with no democratic recourse for the redress of greivances?

THE essential ingredient? Give me a break.

Demigawd · 05-05-2003, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by luvluv
Really, you think religion is the only variable in suicide bombings?

No, but it is a major ingrediant, deliberately or accidentily. This past Sunday, I watched two documentaries on The History Channel concerning Osama Bin Laden. He saught a purpose in his life of luxory and wealth. He found it in Islam, and its mytholog of Saluman the righteous nobleman. It's so comparable with the Arthurian legend, it's not funny.

The more I consider it, the more the concepts of karma, righteousness, nobility, etc., all look the same.

Toto · 05-05-2003, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by luvluv
Well, I'd think some explosives were necessary.

Really, you think religion is the only variable in suicide bombings? Then why don't American Christians do it? Gasp! Could it be because they don't live under oppressive socio-economic conditions with no democratic recourse for the redress of greivances?

THE essential ingredient? Give me a break.

Some of the last suicide bombers in the news were well educated middle class kids from England. Are you trying to say that there is no democratic recourse in Britain? Oppressive socio-economic conditions? Give me a break.

I posted a URL to an article describing a study that showed that the difference between Bosnians who did not turn to suicide bombing and other Muslims who did was that religion was an important part of their life. Perhaps you could read the proof before you mock it.

The explosives are easily available, supplied by the people who recruit the suicide bombers. But the motivation is associated with religion. It's just an association at this point. I don't know what causes what.

Why don't American Christians do it? Possibly because so few of them actually take their religion very seriously. Perhaps because the nutcases who murdered doctors or abortion clinic workers gave Christian terrorism a bad name.

Llyricist · 05-05-2003, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Perhaps because the nutcases who murdered doctors or abortion clinic workers gave Christian terrorism a bad name.

whew, I was beginning to think you were gonna let that slide

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