Quote:
Originally posted by gondath
Suicide by any means takes a lot of courage. The promise of an afterlife filled with virgins and whatnot is intangible at best. These men have never felt the touch of paradise, have never seen anything like it here on earth. Maybe the hell they live in is what really gives them conviction.
I think social support has more to do with it. As long as people have a solid foundation of others to agree with them on what is right and what needs to be done, they're pretty much capable of anything. Our soldiers are no exeption. Look how they respond in wars when the public is against them.
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Suicide does not take courage at all -- it is the ultimate display of cowardice. Those who consider suicide and back out are actually more brave than those who go through with it -- they run the risk of living their lives. This would perhaps be better discussed on the philosophy board, but I fail to see how suicide in any fashion could be deemed heroic or courageous. Successful suicide causes death 100% of the time, where is the courage and risk in that?
I think that for us to try to understand thw lower-class-Arab's way of life is incredibly difficult. We are so spoiled by our luxuries that strapping a bomb to ourselves and blowing ourselves up in a crowded bus / school / cafe seems so unusual that we think it must have some deeper purpose or meaning. In fact, it doesn't -- those who are enlisted to become suicide bombers are victimized by their social and fanatical religious leaders and essentially brainwashed. I pity them, and the innocents that they slaughter without reason or forethought. They are tools of their "cult" leaders -- a disgustingly savage means to an end.