A suicide bomber in 10 easy steps.

How can you raise your very own little suicide bomber?  Here are 10 easy steps:

Below the fold.

1. Have many sons.  You're going to need quite a few, bless their little hearts.

2. Make them feel guilty.  Everything is a sin, especially sex.  Thoughts about sex are a sin.  Not obeying your father is a sin.  And there is no such thing as a trivial sin, God is great.

3. Tell your sons that when they die, their sins, every last one of them, no matter how small, no matter if the sin was just a fleeting sexual urge or a split-second hesitation in obeying Father will damn them to Hell.  Hell is a terrible place, and every sin is counted against them by God, the Great Accountant.

4. God is great.  Tell them that God cannot abandon His righteous standards, since He is so great.  But in His great mercy, God allows sinners a chance to redeem themselves.  Every sin, no matter how trivial, must be covered by a righteous action.  So God gives everyone an equal chance at Paradise.  Tell them that they must be very good little boys, and do many, many good deeds to cover all those horrible sins and wicked thoughts.

5. Be strict.  Point out their sins.  All of them.  Make up new ones if you have to.  Make those little boys feel like little bits of pig spittle.  Tell them that they are soooo very sinful, they will have to live blameless lives, doing many good deeds every single day, and still they must somehow live to be 100 if they are to cover every sin and then possibly they might just escape the fiery judgement of Hell.

6. Teach them that God has many enemies.  True Faith is under attack, by the Infidels.  God-fearing women are being disgraced by these Infidels.  True worshippers of God are being tempted by these Infidel's propaganda and Satanic entertainment.  The Holy Land is overrun with these Infidels.  The True Faith is in danger of being wiped from the face of the Earth by these Infidels, but God will never allow this to happen for then all will be damned to Hell.

7. Tell them the stories, show them the pictures of the Heroes, the True worshippers who have given their lives to do God's will, to fight the Infidels.  Every day, tell them and show them the pictures.  Weep over the faces of these beloved boys who have given their lives for God.  Show them that these Heroes' sacrifices will never be forgotten.  A thousand years from now, the True faithful will still be telling the stories of these brave fighters for God.

8. Tell them that God himself loves these brave boys so much, that God so appreciates their sacrifice that their one good deed, the gift of their life for God, counts for all sins.  That one action covers all.  Not only does it cover all sins, no matter how great or horrible those sins were, but God so loves these Heroes that He made a special place in Heaven for these Heroes.  God grants them a special reward; not only will they actually deserve Heaven, but God will grant them 72 beautiful young virgins as well so these beloved young boys will be happy for all eternity.

9. Now we're going to separate the men from the boys.  Smack them around.  Drag them to the Imam.  Humiliate them publicly.  Let all know that you have the most worthless, despicable sinners for boys that the world has ever known.  Tell them that you despair for their eternal future, pray to God that these poor sinner boys be granted three lifetimes to pay for all their sinful thoughts and deeds.  Tear your garment, put ashes on your head, and cry out to God to have mercy on these poor Hell-bound boys.  Don't forget to weep for joy over the pictures of the Heroes, those boys with the courage to act, to perform the ultimate action that showed, once and for all, their love for God.

10. Tell them that they are so worthless that they are bringing shame on your house.  You must expel them.  Pick up their pitiful belongings in a bundle.  Tie it up and throw it into the street.  Drag the boys to the Imam, who will pronounce God's judgement on these poor Hell-bound boys.  And then offer them their last chance to escape the fiery torment of Hell.  Tell them that because God has so many enemies, so many Infidels wish to destroy the True Faith and pollute the Holy Land, they are granted one chance to redeem themselves.  They must go with the Imam.  They must train.  They must purify their bodies and their souls to be worthy.  They must obey every order.  And if, only if they prove worthy, then they will be granted their chance to give their lives for God, to become one of the beloved Heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for God.  They will be loved.  They will be remembered.  They will bring honor instead of shame upon their fathers.  They will have their 72 virgins.  They will have peace at last.

Finally, take on a new, beautiful young wife with the reward money and start over at step #1.

I know this comes across as an indictment of Islam.  It's not.  It is an indictment of Fundamentalism, mixed with politics.  It is an indictment of Hate, of the dialogue of Hate, of the Black and White, Us vs. Them worldview.  Replace the belt of explosives and ball bearings with a tank or some White Phosphorus, or a bullhorn, a Bible and a street corner, and you can just as easily do this to American kids and send them to die in the shifting sands of Hate.

This is not Religion.  It's Hate and Insanity.  It is destroying the world.

•  Tip jar.

  Misleading title, I know.  A suicide bomber in 10 easy steps.  Too bad I didn't think of that 3 minutes ago.

  by Kingsmeg on Fri Nov 18, 2005 at 10:22:05 PM PDT

  •  Just edit the title!

    As long as you don't make Jotter's list there won't be a paper trail. For some reason Jotter's list grabs the original title if there is an edit.

    by Tomtech on Fri Nov 18, 2005 at 10:37:21 PM PDT

    •  Thanks,

      it worked.  I guess.  

      Don't you hate it when you start writing something and find that something completely different shows up on your screen?

      by Kingsmeg on Fri Nov 18, 2005 at 10:41:22 PM PDT

  •  BTW

    I dig your tag line-- I love Twain euphamisms.

    Please forgive the typos above. My laptop keyboard has a dyslexic quality and switches my letters around.

    txd

    by txdem21 on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 12:51:57 AM PDT

•  can i add one?

  make it step 1subA??

  make sure the country you live in is led by people who think it's ok if half the country is employed.

  by BiminiCat on Fri Nov 18, 2005 at 10:50:51 PM PDT

  •  You're quite right,

    it absolutely does take an unhealthy society to pull this off.  No social safety net.  No opportunities for the poor.  A constant climate of fear and oppression.

    by Kingsmeg on Fri Nov 18, 2005 at 10:53:44 PM PDT

•  This seems to be the conventional wisdom

  that hatred, ignorance, fear and fanaticism wrapping themselves as fundamentalist religion are causes of suicide bombers. I thought that too, but it seems to have been scientifically disproven of late by a study by Robert A. Pape (diaried here).

  Over the past two years, I have compiled a database of every suicide bombing and attack around the globe from 1980 through 2003 - 315 in all. ... The data show that there is far less of a connection between suicide terrorism and religious fundamentalism than most people think.

  ...

  What nearly all suicide terrorist attacks actually have in common is a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland. Religion is often used as a tool by terrorist organizations in recruiting and in seeking aid from abroad, but is rarely the root cause.

  by Cache on Fri Nov 18, 2005 at 10:54:27 PM PDT

  •  First,

    I would like to say that the two views are not mutually exclusive.  The young man who actually blows himself up is just a tool, he has been trained and manipulated to put himself in this position.  The ones who did the training and the manipulation aren't blowing themselves up, they're too busy conducting their campaings for whatever political goal they have in mind.

    Second, the education and secular bits.  Much was made, for instance, of Mohammed Atta's fast cars, fast women and cocaine.  And training.  What I originally started to write in the diary was precisely that sense of commitment mentioned in your reference.  A decision is made, at a point in the young man's life, and that decision is based on the guilt and hate that I describe.  But after the decision, the young man may know peace.  He is certain, after all, that he will be a martyr and collect on his 72 virgins.  His sins don't matter any more, since they will all be covered.  So what's a few more?  What was Atta doing except getting a head start on the life he expected in Paradise?

    And, of course, there is more that one path.  Nothing in the workd is that simple, but the point of the diary was more directed to what American Fundies are doing to their kids.  Oooops !  Did I just say that?

    by Kingsmeg on Fri Nov 18, 2005 at 11:06:06 PM PDT

•  i'm curious

  how do you know what moves people to do such a thing? what are your sources, other than your assumptions? because while i always love a good fundamentalist-bashing (being myself a sworn enemy of violent intolerance), i don't have a lot of confidence that i really have half a clue what makes some people make that decision.

  be wary of comfortable assumptions.

  by wu ming on Fri Nov 18, 2005 at 11:13:56 PM PDT

  •  I am studying

    psychology at McGill University, in Montreal, specializing in the psychology and heritability of intrinsic religiosity.  Some of this is cobbled together from US studies that are attempting to prove religion is good for you, except sometimes they correlate measures of religious fundamentalism with, say, the MMPI.

    Note that I'm studying the evolution of religion, and the biological bases, not necessarily the social impact of differing religions.  Although I do use NRMs (New Religious Movements) and psychiatric studies sometimes.  It's fun.  I enjoy my life.

    by Kingsmeg on Fri Nov 18, 2005 at 11:19:47 PM PDT

    •  how do you account

      for the tamil tigers then? gender norms are pretty equitable in that society and organization, and yet they pioneered the whole tactic. in what i've read of kamikaze pilots' memoirs (the war ended before some died, other got shot down before they could pull it off), the idea of sacrificing yourself for the defense of the nation was a lot bigger motivator for many of them than any idea of sin or religious salvation (despite how they are usually portrayed in our historical memory, as blind devotees of the divine emperor), more akin to the poor american grunts who stormed normandy beach than anything else.

      don't get me wrong, i think that the kinds of fundamentalist, patriarchal ideas and socialization processes that you're talking about here are bound to lead to violence and susceptibility to militant propaganda in the long run, but i'm not sure if you're missing a major factor here in the perceived urgency of the situation by the bomber as someone living under a violent and interminable military occupation with no hope of ever getting out of the situation, combined with an ideology or sense of greater purpose, regardless of whether that purpose be secular or sacred in origin.

      by wu ming on Fri Nov 18, 2005 at 11:36:32 PM PDT

      •  I make a distinction

        between a suicide bomber and a soldier.

        A soldier goes through a training and indoctrination process, and yes he is taught to hate the demonized enemy, and yes the soldier is even made to feel worthless but only for a very short time in basic training.  This little episode in basic training is geared to breaking down the soldier's sense of right and wrong that he brought with him into basic training (especially for draftees), break even his sense of self and personal identity, and here is the key: he is made to identify with the platoon.  This becomes his self, his identity.  He becomes an expedable part of a larger unit, and though he does not seek out opportunities to give his life, he accepts that he may be required to do so.

        There is a huge difference between this mindset, this sense of brotherhood and sacrifice, and those seeking out a martyrdom for the two prongs of personal glory and eternal reward.  What drove the soldiers who died in the infamous charge of the light brigade in the Crimean war was not a grab at personal glory, but rather a complex structure of duty, brotherhood and tradition, and yes the duty was part of a construct of Christianity that taught a Divinely-ordained order of the world, and eternal reward for completion of one's duty, whatever that might be.  But the Christian part may have been a small part of the motivation for the ordinary soldier sitting on his horse facing field artillery.

        What we are seeing in the present conflict is a flow of volunteers from all areas of the world.  Yes, many are being recruited in Universities.  Obviously my '10 easy steps' are a caricature of fundamentalism.  But as I said, the post was addressed to the growing movement of American, Christian fundamentalism as a motivating force for the millions of young men growing up in these families, experiencing all the normal urges of adolescence.

        by Kingsmeg on Fri Nov 18, 2005 at 11:59:58 PM PDT

        •  The Tamil Tigers

          of Sri Lanka are a terrorist group.  Until the invasion of Iraq they were the world leader in suicide terrorism and carried out more suicide attacks (over 75) than any individual Islamic group; they invented the suicide vest. See here.

          They are a Marxist, completely secular group from the Hindu, Tamil regions of the country.

          How do they fit into your analysis?
          

          by sofia on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 12:27:00 AM PDT

          •  They don't.

            I am targeting a specific form of religious extremism which can and does often work in this way.  And I just didn't want to come right out and say it's about American fundies, because that could start a war and get me banned from the site.  Ooops ! again.

            by Kingsmeg on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 12:42:18 AM PDT

          •  Also,

            a quote from your reference, the Why? bit from Institute of Peace & Conflict studies.

            I have not been following the politics in that area of the world, my assessment was more closely based on the interviews of the Hamas bombers captured by Israel, and news snippets about the glorification of past martyrs in public (Islamic) schools in the Palestinian refugee camps, partly funded by Canada through the UN.

            Second, the glorification of the Black Tigers by the LTTE makes it prestigious. Every year July 5 is celebrated by the LTTE as the day of the Black Tigers. (It was on July 5, 1987, that the first suicide attack was perpetrated by the LTTE, when its ?Captain? Millar drove a truck full of explosives into a Sri Lankan Army camp, killing nearly forty soldiers). On this particular day, an eternal lamp is lighted in front of the tombstone of every Black Tiger, who had lost his or her life. The LTTE flag is hoisted and the parents of the Black Tigers, who had sacrificed their lives, are honored. The LTTE radio broadcasts the brave deeds of the Black Tigers with their operational details. When Jaffna was under the LTTE?s control, the Maveerar Thuyilum Illam (Resting Home of the Brave) was cleaned and lighted and the day celebrated in such an emotional way, that it made other cadres to aspire for becoming Black Tigers. When the Sri Lankan Army took over Jaffna from the LTTE, the first thing it did was to bulldoze this cemetery which eulogized the Black Tigers.

            by Kingsmeg on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 12:52:15 AM PDT

            •  Why

              The Tamil Tigers are a separatist movement - that's the why in their case.  The blurb you pulled out of your source was part of a list that spoke to what made them unique, not the why.

              You have to be very discerning of your sources when studying suicide bombings, e.i., that they're not partisan or have an agenda.  Others who have studied Palestinian suicide bombings will tell you that it's driven by "resistance" to Israeli occupation and in many instances revenge when a family member or close friend has been killed - that religion isn't the motivating factor, more that's it's the  justifying factor.  Also, not all Palistinians suicide bombers or groups are Islamic fundementalist, some are more secular.

              Futhermore, although there are many Islamic fundementalists in Iraq there had never been an instance of a suicide bombing until the US invasion and occupation.  By your theory they should have been blowing themselves up under Saddam Hussein's repressive regime.

              by sofia on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 02:20:42 AM PDT

              •  when the Republicans

                are finally kicked from power, when they finally lose their guns and money, when their wifes and kids see the damage they've done to our beautiful country,and how many innocent people we've killed in others, is when we'll begin to see American suicide bombers. The realization will be too much for many and the progeny of these mass murderers will show their shame by blowing themselves up at their dinner tables.
                From my fingertips to Bokonon's ears.

                by tRueffert on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 05:55:53 AM PDT

            •  OK

              I see now that what you're saying -  both the Tamil Tigers and Palestinian groups glorify or celebrate their volunteers or martyers and that's the "why" the bombers volunteer.

              I think the promise of "celebrity" in both cases is an added incentive to volunteer, as is, in the example of Islamic suicide bombing, the promise of heaven or paradise - but I don't think it's the main motivating factor or factors.

              Avishai Margalit (Schulman Professor of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem) in his piece  The Suicide Bombers writes in the NY Review of Books:

              As I have said, the main motivating force for the [Palestinian] suicide bombers seems to be the desire for spectacular revenge; what is important as well is the knowledge that the revenge will be recognized and celebrated by the community to which the suicide bomber belongs. In many cases the bombers say they are taking revenge for the death of someone quite close to them, a member of their family or a friend.

              Worth reading the whole piece. Also, see that not all Palestinian terror groups are Islamic Fundementalist. From The Council on Foreign Relations:  

              Are the brigades [al-Aqsa Brigades] an Islamist movement?
              No. The brigades began in 2000 as an offshoot of Fatah, the secular Palestinian nationalist movement led by Arafat [..]

              The al-Aqsa Brigades commit the same sort of suicide bombings widely associated with such Muslim fundamentalist groups as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but the group's ideology is rooted in Palestinian nationalism, not political Islam. In early 2002, the al-Aqsa Brigades' attacks killed more Israelis than those of Hamas.

              by sofia on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 05:11:46 AM PDT

            •  72 virgins - not what you think!

              Virgins? What virgins?

              It is widely believed that Muslim 'martyrs' enjoy rich sensual rewards on reaching paradise. A new study suggests they may be disappointed. Ibn Warraq reports

              Two points need to be noted. First, there is no mention anywhere in the Koran of the actual number of virgins available in paradise, and second, the dark-eyed damsels are available for all Muslims, not just martyrs. It is in the Islamic Traditions that we find the 72 virgins in heaven specified: in a Hadith (Islamic Tradition) collected by Al-Tirmidhi (died 892 CE [common era*]) in the Book of Sunan (volume IV, chapters on The Features of Paradise as described by the Messenger of Allah [Prophet Muhammad], chapter 21, About the Smallest Reward for the People of Paradise, (Hadith 2687). The same hadith is also quoted by Ibn Kathir (died 1373 CE ) in his Koranic commentary (Tafsir) of Surah Al-Rahman (55), verse 72: "The Prophet Muhammad was heard saying: 'The smallest reward for the people of paradise is an abode where there are 80,000 servants and 72 wives, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine, and ruby, as wide as the distance from Al-Jabiyyah [a Damascus suburb] to Sana'a [Yemen]'.

              by sofia on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 07:25:49 AM PDT

    •  This is very intriguing to me

      However, I can not quite grasp how a social construct, such as religion has biological or heritable qualities. I am a student of genetics and genomic evolution, and see physical and genetic climate as a response to physiological demands over a population. I can understand the role that psychology plays in the genetic resopnse of an individual (hormonal and biochemical demands on DNA replication and cell signaling), however, I do not see any exclusionary evidence for population genetics as it applies to religion. At least not in a strictly abstract manner.

      I would be very much interested in what you have run across that I am not yet aware of.  

      by txdem21 on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 12:48:03 AM PDT

      •  That's because

        there isn't any.
        

        I do not see any exclusionary evidence for population genetics as it applies to religion.

        The present brouhaha arose from the surprising find, in twin studies, that Cloninger's Self-Transcendence Scale is largely heritable.  So quite a number of twin studies have now been done, which do generally show a heritable portion as high as 40% for the STS, which is generally interpreted as intrinsic religiosity by the likes of Dean Hamer (The God Gene). My own argument is quite simply that the mechanism being measured by Cloninger's STS did not evolve for religion, but rather was the result of a specialized adaptation for ambush hunting in Homo neanderthalensis.  In this scenario, religion originated as the loss of self/identification with animal in the hunter lying in ambush, and the need to teach this specialized mental state to his sons.

        The oft-reported 'religious' burials among Neanderthals generally weren't, at least not until long after the cohabitiation of Europe with anatomically modern humans.  I'm still working on the anthropology bit, in fact pretty much all of my theory,  but I would then predict a form of animal spirit and father/son or community/son spirituality transmission & rituals (often using psylocibin, privation, etc to bring a first mystical experience for the young hunter) in all solitary hunting societies, and generally we do observe just this.

        by Kingsmeg on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 01:05:02 AM PDT

        •  Facinating

          So we do see evidence of a departure from genetic impetious with regard to individual behavior that can not be defined by physiological characteristics.

          This is why we are all still researching. The human mind is such a formidable prospect. We unlock one door and find the looking glass provides many new alternatives.

          The conundrum I face is a pragmatic one. As a scientist, I want hard evidence, yet in the relm of neurophysiology vs. psychiatric response we find a multitude of discrepancy. Do you have a developing hypothesis on this point?

          by txdem21 on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 01:30:32 AM PDT

          •  All I can offer

            is my personal conviction that what explanatory theories we do form must necessarily be evolutionary theories, not 'balance of neurotransmitters' and personality trait theories.
            

            The conundrum I face is a pragmatic one. As a scientist, I want hard evidence, yet in the relm of neurophysiology vs. psychiatric response we find a multitude of discrepancy. Do you have a developing hypothesis on this point?

            
            That was the impetus for my present little pet project.  As an aside, my little idea would give an evolutionary explanation for the (or an?) origin for schizophrenia and psychosis, which is why I'm presently tracking NRMs of the mystical type.

            And perhaps more in line with your own studies, I'm looking into the hypothesis of modern consciousness resulting from interbreeding between archaic Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis.  And yes, the discrepancies between studies are frustrating, as well as the rather slanted approach to the STS following researcher's preconceived ideas about the functioning of religion.

            by Kingsmeg on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 01:55:58 AM PDT

            •  too cool

              good luck.

              by txdem21 on Sat Nov 19, 2005 at 12:34:54 PM PDT