Suicide Bombers May Be Suicidal
Suicide vest on display in Trinco
It seems something of a tautology. Suicide bombers are suicidal. This is, however, not the dominant view. According to Mia Bloom at Penn State, “You don’t want to conflate the Western ideas of suicide with something that is, in the Middle East, a religious ceremony.” I still find that most western analysts of suicide bombing falter, however, when they make it a Middle Eastern or Muslim thing. The Sri Lankan example is proof that it isn’t and a scientific study of the thing has to go beyond the 9/11 bias of focusing on a strange Muslim threat. I once read a profile of a Sri Lankan suicide bomber in Marie Claire which talked about how she was repeatedly raped at 7 and how other LTTE bombers were from similar background. In that vein, these scholars Williams and Lankford may be on to something when they say that many suicide bombers have suicidal tendencies themselves. The bombing organizers they interviewed, for example, have none.
Islam is an interesting basket that Western media and scholarship puts all kinds of batshit into. This is not accurate however, because most Muslims are not Arab. Most are in Indonesia or India and they don’t exactly fit into the Western analysis. Living in Sri Lanka, I know tons of Muslims as neighbors and friends, a reality which might lead western researchers to question some of their assumptions. I am increasingly of the belief that much of the presentation layer of this life just obscures a simple business logic. That economic and personal concerns predominate. A prior work by Robert Pape presumed that the logic of suicide bombing was more about perceived occupation than religion, which thus squares with Sri Lankan cases.
It is curious, however, that the canon of work on suicide bombers seems to accept religion as an unquestioning motive. The quantity of non-religious bombers in Sri Lanka would seem to disprove this as an explanation for suicide bombing in general, but most people still define it as an Islamic invention and phenomenon. It is neither. As one example, in his interesting book The End Of Faith, Sam Harris details a scene of a suicide bomber entering a bus and concludes ‘Why is it so easy, then, so trivially easy – you-could-almost-bet-your-life-on-it easy – to guess the young man’s religion?’ Well, it’s not. For me the first example that springs to mind is a Hindi/Christian or atheist LTTE suicide bomber. Indeed, until 2000 a significant proportion of suicide bombers were Sri Lankan, almost half. Hardly something you’d bet your life on.
The Sri Lankan case may be an outlier, but I don’t think it’s correct to say that religion is the cause for suicide bombing without looking at other factors. Suicide bombing in Iraq increased after US occupation, for example, while Islam presumably remained relatively constant. As I said before, I’m finding that more and more seemingly ideological issues are actually very bread and butter underneath. The ideology is almost an emergent layer on top of innate human tendencies, like religion itself may be.
Thus, it is interesting to see scholars exploring the idea that suicide bombers may have suicide has part of their motivation (Boston Globe). Thinking about it, we all have an instinct to live, and standing there, the moment before you blow yourself up, ones own life must figure somewhere in your mind.
Today on the 
Janith has updated 
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Sri Lankan domestics never say anything, they just stop coming. My maid just stopped coming and when I finally pressed her she said I needed to get a washing machine. I was hoping to ride this one out, but I’ve run out of underwear and I have no choice. I finally caved and bought a washing machine, from 
“It is curious, however, that the canon of work on suicide bombers seems to accept religion as an unquestioning motive. The quantity of non-religious bombers in Sri Lanka would seem to disprove this as an explanation for suicide bombing in general”
I think the Tiger creed came very close to being religious in its fervour.
Look, stop beating around the bush – Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus who number somthing like 3 million have produced more suicide bombers that 1 billion plus Muslims. Is there something in Tamil Hinduism that glorifies violence and terror?
Aren’t there plenty of stories about soldiers accepting suicidal missions, what about the kamakazi fighters of WWII & bushido stuff from japan. I think humans are more than capable of committing to suicidal attacks without the promise of eternal salvation & 72 virgins. some of the tigers probably thought the cause was worth dying for and some were probably either conditioned or coerced into it.
There could be many different reasons. 72 virgins is one. But then there’s also the belief that there’s something greater than self (is there?).
Some animals commit suicide as well. Natural Selection can explain it too without the aid of neo-Darwinist theories.
Indi’s saying that all those reasons are just a cover for bread and butter issues. In the earlier post on taxation he questions the feasibility of democracy within a weak economy.
I’m wondering whether these posts are about the given topics at all, or whether Indi’s trying to say something about his changing attitudes on governance in Sri Lanka and about power sharing.
It could be because of the non-existence of a sex life as well. Usually, those who do not have the looks, charm, wit or wealth and power just turn gay. But if he’s a Muslim, he can go Jihad and have 72 virgins in the life after death. If he can’t send his genes to the next generation in this life, why shouldn’t he send them straight to heaven?
To my amusement, this theory of mine that “people commit suicide/become martyrs/or superheroes because the lack of a sex life (Lefroy’s Theory of Sexide), makes more sense than I first realised.
Think about Superman(underwear->overwear), Spiderman (shy and clueless), and Batman (dumped). They become suicidal superheroes because they don’t have a sex life.
Say you’re married, or in a committed, exclusive, long-term relationship with someone, and daily have sex on the iron table. Why would you want to become a superhero? You have a life to live, and that life will be witnessed by that someone.
Or say you’re a successful womanizer. At least you’ll fall in love with Maths and Statistics.
But if you’re supposed to love Allah or Jesus more than you love your family, or taught that a piece of crappy land is your home and worth more than anything else, add to that the fact that you don’t have a sex life and don’t know there are better things in life like sex and romantic love, you’ll become a martyr. If you know about romatic love but not loved by the one in your dreams, you’ll become a superhero.