Why do suicide bombers do it?

[Loren Pechtel]

(NSFW warning--this document contains some fairly graphic imagery.)
https://drive.google.com/folderview...UmxNMWM&tid=0BzmetJxi-p0VNkhsMDVpUmJycWc#list

Yeah, the document is specifically about female suicide bombers but the points remain valid. I'm only looking at the ones where they give some discussion of the woman

Sana'a Mehaidli:
Wafa Idris: A barren divorcee; considered an outcast in Palestinian society.
Dareen Abu Aysheh:
Ayat Ahkras: May have been involved in a pre-marital sexual relationship with her militant fiancé and possibly pregnant; a taboo that warranted death in the conservative Palestinian society.
Hiba Daraghmeh:
Hanadi Tayseer Jaradat:May have had a pre-marital sexual relationship with her fiancé who was an Islamic Jihad militant.
Reem Salih al-Rayasha:
Zeinab Abu Salem:
Thenmuli Rajaratnam: Supposedly gang-raped by Indian troops during Gandhi’s previous tenor as prime minister; Indian troops were in Sri Lanka as peacekeepers. The “rape” may have contributed to her becoming a suicide bomber. In Hindu faith, once a woman has been raped, she is an outcast and may never again marry.
Thiagaraja Jeyarani:
Anoja Kugenthirasah:
Amanat Nagayeva:
Roza Nagayev:
Zalikhan Yelikhadzhiyeva:
Zarema Muzhakhoyeva: Stated she was abandoned by her family and widowed by her husband early in life. Admitted to turning to terrorism as a way out of shame.
Zeynep Kinaci:
Leyla Kaplan:
Guler Otas:
Semiha Kilic:
Muriel Degauque: Motive remains unclear. Troubled life including drug use; considered a “lost soul” by family.
Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi:

Note how many were socially unacceptable. Furthermore, most of the ones where I didn't give a reason were pretty short, devoid of any evidence as to why they did it.

They're social losers--prime targets for brainwashing.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Oh my god! Loren Pechtel has discovered that terrorists have a general history of being socially awkward. Someone... get this to the CIA and FBI immediately... it is that unpredictable of a finding!

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Oh my god! Loren Pechtel has discovered that terrorists have a general history of being socially awkward. Someone... get this to the CIA and FBI immediately... it is that unpredictable of a finding!

There have been plenty on here that claim the only reason is oppression.

 

[Mageth]

There have been plenty on here that claim the only reason is oppression.

Please provide evidence, if you can, that supports the assertion that plenty of posters on this site claim that the only reason that suicide bombers do it is oppression.

 

[untermensche]

Oh my god! Loren Pechtel has discovered that terrorists have a general history of being socially awkward. Someone... get this to the CIA and FBI immediately... it is that unpredictable of a finding!

There have been plenty on here that claim the only reason is oppression.

There are plenty of Jews living in Israel that have hard luck stories of feeling isolated.

The reason they don't become suicide bombers is because of the lack of external oppression.

 

[bilby]

It is needless to become a suicide bomber when you have a government who has the means and the will to simply drop bombs on your enemies from jet aircraft.

Oppression, lack of other means of attack, and the appropriate psychological state are all necessary conditions for suicide bombing.

Removing the latter from any society is likely impossible; providing oppressed peoples with high-tech weapons and delivery systems* is typically frowned upon; so the only recourse left, if you are really interested in preventing suicide bombings, is to remove the oppression.

This is not rocket science.







*This bit is sometimes rocket science

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Oh my god! Loren Pechtel has discovered that terrorists have a general history of being socially awkward. Someone... get this to the CIA and FBI immediately... it is that unpredictable of a finding!

There have been plenty on here that claim the only reason is oppression.

Care to back that up?

 

[Mindlab Expositor]

I guess the reason they do it is to garner reward and favor from the man up there^^. It's a works religion.

Why else would anyone go to such lengths? Only for the promise of reward to make it worth forfeiting life; which may not be much to lose. Evidently, the people listed in the OP had nowhere to go but up.

 

[Cobalt]

Suicide bombing is a manifestation of something that existed in humanity long before we learned to build bombs. It looks like a form of in-group altruism/out-group hatred to me. Religious beliefs are effective at watering that ground, but they are not the only kinds of beliefs which can.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Muriel Degauque: Motive remains unclear.

Wouldn't this be the most honest assessment for all of them?

There are a lot of things i've done that even i don't know for sure why i did it. For approval? For sex? For my self-image?
We don't know how many of them were brainwashed, meaning their death was someone else's goal, and how many were actively seeking someone to help them die spectacularly.

It's easy to armchair diagnose.

But remember George Carlin's routine about sending someone a bottle of Scope in the mail. BAM! Up on a roof, twelve dead and they blame Marine training....

 

[Loren Pechtel]

It is needless to become a suicide bomber when you have a government who has the means and the will to simply drop bombs on your enemies from jet aircraft.

Oppression, lack of other means of attack, and the appropriate psychological state are all necessary conditions for suicide bombing.

Removing the latter from any society is likely impossible; providing oppressed peoples with high-tech weapons and delivery systems* is typically frowned upon; so the only recourse left, if you are really interested in preventing suicide bombings, is to remove the oppression.

This is not rocket science.

You can't remove the oppression because it's manufactured even if it doesn't really exist.

The only real fix is to remove the agitators that drive it.

- - - Updated - - -

Muriel Degauque: Motive remains unclear.

Wouldn't this be the most honest assessment for all of them?

There are a lot of things i've done that even i don't know for sure why i did it. For approval? For sex? For my self-image?
We don't know how many of them were brainwashed, meaning their death was someone else's goal, and how many were actively seeking someone to help them die spectacularly.

It's easy to armchair diagnose.

But remember George Carlin's routine about sending someone a bottle of Scope in the mail. BAM! Up on a roof, twelve dead and they blame Marine training....

The point is a bunch of them were in a situation where they had no future anyway due to their violation of the standards of their society.

 

[Keith&Co.]

The point is a bunch of them were in a situation where they had no future anyway due to their violation of the standards of their society.

That would be a better point if you could actually SHOW that this was directly connected to their bombing.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The point is a bunch of them were in a situation where they had no future anyway due to their violation of the standards of their society.

That would be a better point if you could actually SHOW that this was directly connected to their bombing.

All but one of them on that list are dead. How do you propose we find out?

 

[Duke Leto]

I'm told that having to listen to Loren Pechtel armchair psychologize is a leading cause of wanting to blow oneself up.

 

[Hickdive]

I'm told that having to listen to Loren Pechtel armchair psychologize is a leading cause of wanting to blow oneself up.

I tend to ag.....BANG!

 

[Keith&Co.]

That would be a better point if you could actually SHOW that this was directly connected to their bombing.

All but one of them on that list are dead. How do you propose we find out?

Did I say we could? I'm just expressing doubt that the conclusion is all that well supported by the evidence available. I don't think you've got enough to distinguish between causal and casual.