# Do you think that suicide terrorists feel scared when they die? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 21, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176 "2017-05-21T21:18:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![femmejean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/0ea827/32.png) [@femmejean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femmejean)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/1 "2017-05-21T21:18:28Z")
Thinking about the 9/11 hijackers and the 7/7 bombers. They all signed up for their respective missions knowing they would die. They know what different religions say about death i.e heaven and hell. They also probably knew that a lot of Muslims (and other religious individuals) disagreed with what they did and thought that it was suicide and mass murder which would land them in eternal torture. But on the other side, they believed that they would not only would most likely be granted paradise but commit a justified form of revenge against the ‘enemy’; whether it was to send a message to civilians or goverments around the world. Do you think this was enough to overpower their ‘fear of death’? And a second question, do you believe the excessive fear of death is biological or rather than societally constructed? I believe it is biologically natural to avoid pain but not death **provided** our brains ‘rationalize’ that a tumultuous life is better to end than endure. I don’t believe at all this idea that seeking death is irrational at all. I would go so far as to say that a terrorist is no more irrational (psychologically) than someone who goes into a war that they will be guaranteed to die in. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/2 "2017-05-21T21:21:30Z")
From the videos I’ve seen, they seem more like _'Pumped up for the Big Game_’. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/3 "2017-05-21T23:32:28Z")
> [@femmejean](#): > > They all signed up for their respective missions knowing they would die. Not true at all. And neither are many of your other assumptions. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/4 "2017-05-22T00:49:14Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > From the videos I’ve seen, they seem more like _'Pumped up for the Big Game_’. I would go with this but word it more as an adrenaline rush. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/5 "2017-05-22T01:21:02Z")
I read a reddit thread asking questions of military veterans about suicide bombers. According to them. 1. Some of them (arguably many) were conscripted, not volunteers. Groups like the Taliban would kidnap their family and tell them if they didn’t commit an assault on US troops or suicide bomb US soldiers, they’d kill their family. One solider told a story about a wave of suicide bombers attacking his base, he said all of them had their hands tied behind their backs. They wouldn’t do that voluntarily. 2. Some suicide bombers are doped up on heroin or meth. This will make them less afraid to die. > **[Report: Terrorists Used Heroin to Numb Pain Before Launching Violent Suicide...](https://www.theblaze.com/news/2011/09/22/report-terrorists-used-heroine-to-numb-pain-before-launching-violent-suicide-attacks)** > > "...they were promised paradise with virgins." > **[JIHADISTS WIRED TO EXPLODE Say Iraqi bombers took heroin, speed](https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/jihadists-wired-explode-iraqi-bombers-heroin-speed-article-1.601777)** > > WASHINGTON - Some suicide bombers who battled U.S. troops in Fallujah were doped up on heroin and speed, the Pentagon's top general said yesterday. > Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his aides said the... As far as point 2, people seem more willing to die if they think they will survive death as a spirit, or if they feel they are dying as part of a larger unit that will survive after them (a nation), or if they feel death is coming soon or their quality of life is low. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/6 "2017-05-22T01:26:21Z")
I’d hazard a guess that most of them do feel fear of death, yes. It’s a very powerful human instinct. But as history has shown, plenty of people overcome that fear and die suicidally anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/7 "2017-05-22T02:37:10Z")
One of the biggest fears any person has (and this is common among all cultures) is letting the team (or family) down that you are a part of. Talk to almost any person playing a team sport and they mention that they are trying their best to get the team to a victory first over any individual feats. The same can be applied to terrorist organizations where the guilt of not letting the team down can be overpowering and difficult to resist even in a suicidal operation. To illustrate my point differently, look at WW2. Hitler killed no one personally (unless you include himself and his mistress) but yet was able to convince Germany to go to war and kill millions in the process. Most militaries will follow the same principle. However as Patton famously said, “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the bastard die for his” ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/8 "2017-05-22T03:39:18Z")
Do you think the Columbine killers felt scared? How about the Virginia Tech shooter? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/9 "2017-05-22T14:07:13Z")
\*\*Do you think that suicide terrorists feel scared when they die? \*\* No. And this is one of the reasons that I say religion is just about the single most dangerous thing we humans have ever invented to inflict upon one another. Religion replaces common sense. You’d think that a suicide bomber would hear somebody say, “Here, put on this vest and go blow yourself up in the mall - you’ll go to heaven for doing it”…and there would be a prompt response of “Ummm…wait a minute, guys.” Nope. It’s all “Put that thing on me and point me at the infidels!”. They have been brainwashed to believe that blowing themselves up is a GOOD thing. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/10 "2017-05-22T19:47:59Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > > [@femmejean](#): > > > > They all signed up for their respective missions knowing they would die. > > Not true at all. And neither are many of your other assumptions. Mohammed Atta, Marwan al Shehhi, Hani Hanjour, and Ziad Jarrah (9/11 pilots) certainly knew they going to die (I don’t know what the other hijackers were expecting.) I would also think someone wearing 50 pounds of dynamite is expecting to die. Can you reflect on how this assumption breaks? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/11 "2017-05-22T20:41:01Z")
I am guessing that \*\*panache45 \*\*means “Not true at all” in the sense that, “Not \*all \*suicide-attack terrorists know they’re going to die” - unless he really means that suicidal attack terrorists don’t expect death, period, which would be a puzzling statement. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/12 "2017-05-23T00:00:27Z")
> [@femmejean](#): > > . . . They know what different religions say about death i.e heaven and hell. They also probably knew that a lot of Muslims (and other religious individuals) disagreed with what they did and thought that it was suicide and mass murder which would land them in eternal torture. > > . . . They almost certainly had no idea at all about other religions, and very little idea of their own. There are schools “madrasas” where poor young boys are brought to learn the Koran\*. The boys’ parents let them go because they are unable to feed all their children. They think they are pushing the child toward a better life. But the boys are not really _taught_ anything. They are just given lessons to repeat the sounds of Koranic verses, as if they were parrots, but they are never taught Arabic. So they have no knowledge at all of their own religion except what they are told in the school, and no lifetime exposure to any other religion’s principles or ideas. The boys are told that if they perform this brave act, they will be transported to paradise, and much is said about the amazing food and sexual favors they will receive. They are also told that their families will be paid, so their Mothers and younger siblings will eat well, and go to real schools. The boys think they are providing their families with a better life. So yes, they know that there will be pain, but their lives have been mostly pain anyway, and they have no future prospects other than what may be provided by the adults who are urging them to take this path. What else would they do? \*Obviously, some madrasas are excellent schools, we are talking about a small sub-set of them here. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-suicide-terrorists-feel-scared-when-they-die/787176/13 "2017-05-23T01:56:59Z")
The most well documented suicide attackers were the [kamikaze](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/11/the-last-kamikaze-two-japanese-pilots-tell-how-they-cheated-death) and being human there was a mixed assortment of emotions. > [@](#): > > When Takehiko Ena learned he had been chosen to fly a suicide mission he greeted the news in a way he still finds confusing. “I felt the blood drain from my face,” he told the Guardian. “The other pilots and I congratulated each other when the order came through that we were going to attack. It sounds strange now, as there was nothing to celebrate.” “On the surface, we were doing it for our country,” Ena said. “We made ourselves believe that we had been chosen to make this sacrifice. I just wanted to protect the father and mother I loved. And we were all scared.” > “We didn’t think too much [about dying],” Horiyama said. “We were trained to suppress our emotions. Even if we were to die, we knew it was for a worthy cause. Dying was the ultimate fulfillment of our duty, and we were commanded not to return. We knew that if we returned alive that our superiors would be angry.” The last kamikaze: two Japanese pilots tell how they cheated death