Shrinkwrapped blog has a pretty insightful riff on my rambling post on “Some Thoughts On Violence, Suicide, And Bad Philosophy“
Such people have no dependable core of their own and their chronic frustration and rage at a world which refuses to satiate their desperate inner hunger cannot be contained but must be externalized.
When the rage is externalized, all it needs is a coherent idea to give it meaning and shape. Islam, par excellence, is an ideology of Meaning. After all, by submitting to one’s God, there are no further questions; all questions have been answered.
Perhaps at one time vulnerable children could have found Meaning in their religion, but our Western elites have managed to destroy religion as a source of inner strength for too many. Without meaning, they have nothing, which is the core of nihilism. Modern Multiculturalism and the deconstruction of Western reality has left too many of our elites with no fixed beliefs; nothing they believe has any meaning beyond their belief that nothing has any meaning. There is one exception for the Left:
All cultures are equal except for Western Civilization , which is evil and the source of all that is wrong with the world.
And if that’s the case…well, no action is unjustifiable.
The Doctor’s observations were very interesting and compelling (and some of his links are good too). He puts a stake in the notion that material want is at the origin of suicide violence. Here’s a good quote from one of the Doctor’s links:
bq. _How did you feel when you heard that you’d been selected for martyrdom?” I asked._
bq. _“It’s as if a very high, impenetrable wall separated you from Paradise or Hell,” he said. “Allah has promised one or the other to his creatures. So, *by pressing the detonator, you can immediately open the door to Paradise* — it is the shortest path to Heaven.”_
[….]
bq. _What is the attraction of martyrdom?” I asked._
bq. _*“The power of the spirit pulls us upward, while the power of material things pulls us downward,”* he said. *“Someone bent on martyrdom becomes immune to the material pull.* Our planner asked, ‘What if the operation fails?’ We told him, ‘In any case, we get to meet the Prophet and his companions, inshallah.’_
“Here”:http://drsanity.blogspot.com/2005/07/union-with-evil-god.html
Two desires are expressed here. The first is to escape material temptation and dissatisfactions of the flesh. Poor people don’t worry about excess that much. The second desire is to assure an invitation to the afterlife. This would appear to be a “classless” anxiety and it shouldn’t be forgotten that there are poor people being paid to explode themselves and their children are being raised in schools to do the same.
But I’m still baffled that a parent would use their baby as a “bomb.”:http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/brit_baby_bomb_beasts_worldnews_andy_soltis.htm Parenthood would seem to be the most obvious activity to fill holes. But these are the days of miracle and wonder . . .
The old expression “Educated Beyond Their Means” comes to mind. The First World War shredded the educated and well trained. They knew enough to follow orders and march into machine guns. The less educated were sure there must be another way.
Islam-o-fascism is shredding their educated and well trained. The difference is that they wish to take tens and hundreds of our with each of theirs. The life of the non-Muslim has no value. The life of a Muslim is sacrificed to be a martyr. Death as a cultural value will only stop when so much death has passed that people begin to think “there must be another way”.
Until then, they will die in their tens seeking to kill us in our hundreds or thousands. The cost of defense will weigh heavily on our defenders who must kill so many of them.
This war has no appeasement, no “split the difference” diplomatic wizardry, no solutions except “Submit or Die”… Die standing or live kneeling is the demands being put forth. Unfortunatel, we have many who would prefer to submit and wear the collar of a slave…
Parenthood would seem to be the most obvious activity to fill holes.
Indeed it would, but parenthood is a huge responsibility with tremendous pressures all its own. To be a parent (at least a good one) involves a whole lot of giving. A child costs money, time, attention, energy, aggravation, patience, and caring. Suicide terrorists aren’t givers, they’re takers. Fundamentally, they’re lazy, selfish egotists. Why bother with all the work of life when you can just push a button and take “the shortest path to Heaven?” A baby is just a drain on their resources who can pay them back for all their trouble by becoming their key to paradise.
I think there is a better explanation:
The Origins of Islamic Rage
The short answer: Child abuse.
“All cultures are equal except for Western Civilization , which is evil and the source of all that is wrong with the world.”
Just out of curiosity: is that a direct quote of some left sources? Or maybe a close paraphrase?
M.Simon: there may be something to it, but I think by the most part the origin of islamic rage is the totalitarian environment that’s what most islamic societies are. Their higher-ups feel threatened; at some point (and for our own reasons) we gave them modern weapons, lots of money, and allowed to get a taste of blood, so to say; they like it and now are using it all against us. In a sense, there is no rage, what some of us perceive as rage is a manufactured phenomenon, almost a media phenomenon. Replace the top layer there and the rage will disappear.
Also, there’s a fairly old book by Erik Hoffer, The True Believer, that is very relevant to the topic. Well written too.