Understanding Suicide Terrorism

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Agent Ghost
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Understanding Suicide Terrorism - Oct 23, 2007 15:35
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuipt15s08c

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iyCPDHplq8

Q&A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Sda8oMjaI

Part 1 and 2 is about 50 minutes long together. If you have the time this is one of the best lectures I' ve ever seen. If you' re ever watched the news talking about another suicde bomber and asked yourself WTF were they thinking. This guy actually has a lot of insightful things to say on this matter.
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choupolo
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RE: Understanding Suicide Terrorism - Oct 23, 2007 20:38
Interesting stuff to think about how we' re all pyschologically setup to turn off fear of death, so we can protect or attack.

Its all just overintellectualising a mostly political problem though.

Genetically we know that the human race and monkeys etc are a violent bunch of mofos, capable of killing each other and themselves.

Irrational religious views (which incidentally are nothing to do with Islam) can be a tool to influence weak minds, but ultimately just gets used as a scapegoat.

There hasn' t been a war that wasn' t ultimately about power or fear of power.

Agent Ghost
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RE: Understanding Suicide Terrorism - Oct 24, 2007 06:30

Its all just overintellectualising a mostly political problem though.


That depends on what we' re looking at. You can look at war from a sociological perspective, a political perspective or a psychological perspective among others.

Professor Thomson is a Psychiatrist with experience dealing with these people. The point of the lecture help us understand suicide terrorists, as opposed to explaining war itself.
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choupolo
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RE: Understanding Suicide Terrorism - Oct 24, 2007 07:46
Well as I say the sociological and psychological aspects are interesting and all, but they wont help us solve any problems. Its largely academic whether a suicide bomber thinks like a monkey just before he sets him/herself off, dont you think?

You can tell Thomsons not a religious man (Richard Dawkins is a well known religious atheist), and part of his agenda is to merely blame theism. But I reckon religions just an excuse not the root cause, you get rid of religion bombers will find another excuse.

Agent Ghost
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RE: Understanding Suicide Terrorism - Oct 24, 2007 11:43
If you take away superstition, it would be much more difficult to convince males to blow themselves up for a larger cause. This isn' t about war or religion. It' s a psychology lecture about vulnerabilities of the human mind.

They didn' t even need to talk about religion, we know what it is. They did because it was " The Foundation of Reason and Science" . But it doesn' t change the research on human behaviour for the subject.

You' re right, this isn' t the bigger picture, this is a micro perspective. But if you want to understand anything you have to see it from all angles.


Its largely academic whether a suicide bomber thinks like a monkey just before he sets him/herself off, dont you think?


Yes, it' s a lecture. That doesn' t mean we can' t discuss it.


But I reckon religions just an excuse not the root cause, you get rid of religion bombers will find another excuse.


I half agree with what you said. It' s not the root cause, religion is an effective tool designed to take advantage of individuals who are vulnerable to this degree of manipulation. I think everyone here can agree that they are being manipulated. You don' t actually believe that God or Allah wants them to blow themselves up, even if you belive in a higher power. But without religion you pretty much will stop having suicide bombers. Or at the very least they would have a much more difficult time trying to sign people up for it. You can' t even find example of modern suicide bombers part of a group that didn' t have a religious affiliation.

It seems to me like if we know the human mind has vulnerabilities, and not just suicide bombers but everyone; and we know how effective religion is with taking advantage of this. We should take steps to dissarm them.

Most people manage their religion just fine, but it can be used to brainwash people. I mean, they' re ***ing blowing themselves up in the name of Allah. They' re not doing it for Steve or Jessica, they' re doing it for God. That' s how powerful this stuff is.

If you want to look at this from a political point of view. People everywhere should be free to practice their religion without persecution. These types of human rights are very important. What I' m saying is that children at the same time shouldn' t be exposed to religion. Once they' re older and their brain is developed, let them decide. If they were really so righteous they would feel confident about their ideas enough that they would be glad to wait to instill their ideas on a mature mind.
< Message edited by Agent Ghost -- 24 Oct 07 3:47:28 >
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choupolo
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RE: Understanding Suicide Terrorism - Oct 24, 2007 17:04
Its definitely interesting to look at how humans could believe so strongly in such fantasies and the genetics behind it all.

For the record I' m Muslim, and I know for sure that what these bombers are being told about martyrdom and virgins etc is complete bollocks. So my point is that its not actually religion that these people are being brainwashed with. They' re just lies fabricated to achieve a political goal. You could call it a religion I guess, but its not the same as Islam or Christianity or Judaism etc.

As for children, I agree they should definitely be allowed the choice when they' re old enough. While they' re growing up though they need strict guidance whether its from religious values or social ones.

Nitro
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RE: Understanding Suicide Terrorism - Oct 24, 2007 19:33
Why don' t they just play videogames. It seems to curb my violent tendencies.

UnluckyOne
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RE: Understanding Suicide Terrorism - Oct 24, 2007 21:46
C4 is probably cheaper and more readily available where they live.