# What Is The Mindset Of Suicide Bombers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 13, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557 "2010-07-13T17:28:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/1 "2010-07-13T17:28:03Z")
I know there is no easy answer, but in reading about the recent attack in Uganda, and seeing they found a vest with a bomb that a potential suicide bomber left after maybe getting second thoughts, it got me to wondering what is the mindset? I can almost understand Kamikaze during WWII - last ditch effort, in the military fighting for their country and many armies in history have entered battles, knowing they had no chance. They were attacking military coming towards their country. But to get some kid, or young adult, to strap on a vest and walk into some populated area with civilians, and press a button to blow themselves up? Often it is for some very esoteric reason that has little, if anything, to do with the people being killed and no real strategic affect whatsoever, other than to cause some momentary grief. Do they really expect to get any results from this - other than maybe people avoiding tourist spots for a few days until that too is forgotten? Still - what kind of person would voluntarily strap on a bomb? How do they find such people? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/2 "2010-07-13T17:34:12Z")
The terrorists have no army like Japan but I think many of them believe anyone who is not Muslim is attacking them even if they are not in uniform of an army. Also remember the stuff about getting 72 virgins in heaven plays a role too. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/3 "2010-07-13T17:47:36Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Still - what kind of person would voluntarily strap on a bomb? Someone who doesn’t have any hope in the real world, and who tries to solve his problems by turning to the unreal; religion. After all, if you really take the idea of an afterlife seriously then what’s the big deal about dying? I’m surprised there aren’t more, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/4 "2010-07-13T17:55:29Z")
I saw one of those TED Talks videos (here’s the online version; they have it as a podcast too), where the speaker talked about “suicide bomber camps” for kids. In a nutshell, the kids usually come from poor families who can’t support all their kids, the parents are given money, and the kids get taken off to this isolated place. There, they’re not fed or treated well, they have extreme beliefs drilled into their heads, and they’re told about how wonderful the afterlife is. So if a kid thinks he can escape a near hell on earth by blowing up Really Evil People, it might sound like a pretty good deal. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/5 "2010-07-13T17:57:00Z")
I read something that said it all has to do with Muslim culture tolerating polygamy. When some men get more than one wife, others are inevitably left with none. The suicide bombers are almost always single men who have lost in the competition over women so to them the promise of 40 (or however many it is) virgins in heaven seems like a pretty sweet deal. Plus it’s a way to redeem themselves for their perceived reproductive failure. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/6 "2010-07-13T18:07:58Z")
It is easy to attribute this to brainwashing in the madrasahs especially those associated with Wahhabism. There may be a more valid reason, but the one I presented is the mainstream view of most observers. The typical martyr/bomber has lived a life where he or she has been guided for many years to this final juncture. In many cases, they have no other choice but to commit such an act. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/7 "2010-07-13T18:08:32Z")
Plus, not all of them just slap on a suicide vest and walk into the town center. That would be inefficient because some of them would have second thoughts. First they are inculcated to the idea of going to pep rallys where they wear suicide vests, then sometimes are taken into town on scouting missions, then at one of their “meetings”, they put a real suit on them and tell them to go for it, before they have a chance to back out. And they can’t back out because if they get caught they’ll get capped in the head just to be safe. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/8 "2010-07-13T18:32:49Z")
Here’s the article I was talking about above (it treats other topics but the relevant portion is under “[Most suicide bombers are Muslim](http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200706/ten-politically-incorrect-truths-about-human-nature?page=2)”). > [@](#): > > What distinguishes Islam from other major religions is that it tolerates polygyny. By allowing some men to monopolize all women and altogether excluding many men from reproductive opportunities, polygyny creates shortages of available women. If 50 percent of men have two wives each, then the other 50 percent don’t get any wives at all. > > So polygyny increases competitive pressure on men, especially young men of low status. It therefore increases the likelihood that young men resort to violent means to gain access to mates. By doing so, they have little to lose and much to gain compared with men who already have wives. Across all societies, polygyny makes men violent, increasing crimes such as murder and rape, even after controlling for such obvious factors as economic development, economic inequality, population density, the level of democracy, and political factors in the region. > > … > > It is the combination of polygyny and the promise of a large harem of virgins in heaven that motivates many young Muslim men to commit suicide bombings. Consistent with this explanation, all studies of suicide bombers indicate that they are significantly younger than not only the Muslim population in general but other (nonsuicidal) members of their own extreme political organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. And nearly all suicide bombers are single. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/9 "2010-07-13T18:39:24Z")
Shaking my head at the irony that the basic instinct to reproduce can drive a person to remove himself from the gene pool. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/10 "2010-07-13T18:47:03Z")
“Hey! Want your shitty, pointless, pathetic life to mean something?” ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/11 "2010-07-13T18:52:26Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > … Still - what kind of person would voluntarily strap on a bomb? How do they find such people? do we know this for sure? it’ll make more sense if they weren’t given much of a choice. if they had no way to discard the bomb themselves and nowhere to go except the designated target. also remote detonators. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/12 "2010-07-13T18:52:33Z")
As an aside, am I the only one who thinks the article unfairly portrays women as gold diggers? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/13 "2010-07-13T18:59:16Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > do we know this for sure? it’ll make more sense if they weren’t given much of a choice. if they had no way to discard the bomb themselves and nowhere to go except the designated target. also remote detonators. I think we can sometimes forget what it’s like to be without instant access to knowledge and news. I suspect it’s far easier than we think to whip up uneducated, impoverished, unhappy young men into a zealous desire to accomplish something “meaningful,” even if it costs them their lives. There may well be some unwilling bombers, but that seems less probable to me than the other. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/14 "2010-07-13T19:16:37Z")
> [@umop\_ap\_sdn](#): > > As an aside, am I the only one who thinks the article unfairly portrays women as gold diggers? :dubious: Wanting to marry well is only gold-digging in a culture where everyone’s children get to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/15 "2010-07-13T19:22:55Z")
> [@umop\_ap\_sdn](#): > > As an aside, am I the only one who thinks the article unfairly portrays women as gold diggers? :dubious: In a heavily patriarchal culture, an 18 YO girl can often only hope that she’s given to someone she likes, because she had no say in the matter. Her parents are more likely the gold diggers in that THEY are the ones trying to marry her off to someone rich and powerful for their own gain. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/16 "2010-07-13T19:27:33Z")
Good points. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t consider the 3rd world angle. :o ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/17 "2010-07-13T19:30:28Z")
The motivations for people who join legitimate armed forces and go on to sacrifice themselves in war obviously include a sincere belief that they are creating the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The less obvious, and possibly more important, motive is to not look like a chicken in front of your peers. Just as terrorists use “suicide bomber camps”, armed forces use “boot camps” for newly enlisted soldiers where “they’re not fed or treated well, they have extreme beliefs drilled into their heads” and, most importantly, are driven to bond with their peers to the expense of all outsiders until they would literally rather die than let their brothers down. Whether they admit it or not, armed forces are perfectly aware that this is what they are doing. Please don’t think I’m pointing out similarities because I want to set up any kind of moral equivalence. I’m not and there isn’t one. I’m just pointing out that the tactics that work for the good guys also work for the bad guys and that the motivations may not be entirely foreign. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/18 "2010-07-13T21:19:02Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Someone who doesn’t have any hope in the real world, and who tries to solve his problems by turning to the unreal; religion. > [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The terrorists have no army like Japan but I think many of them believe anyone who is not Muslim is attacking them even if they are not in uniform of an army. Wrong and wrong. Most suicide bombings aren’t religously motivated. They’re political. The Tamil Tigers [own the record](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tigers) for the most suicide bombings by a single group. Moreover, suicide attacks are [not linked to poverty, but instead of political freedom](http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/aabadie/povterr.pdf), while most suicide bombers are middle class and educated. Why, then, are most suicide bombers Muslim? Islam is not a cause, but a confounding variable. It just so happens that Islam is prevalent in authoritarian states. You get a lot of terrorism/suicide attacks when authoritarian regimes yield to democracies. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/19 "2010-07-13T21:35:15Z")
The mindset of suicide bombers? Besides, “Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! …” you mean? Why does it need to be much different from the dudes who set up roadside bombs in Iraq? “If I don’t do this, the money man is going to rape my children and feed my family to dogs!” ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557/20 "2010-07-13T21:36:16Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > You get a lot of terrorism/suicide attacks when authoritarian regimes yield to democracies. other way 'round, right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-mindset-of-suicide-bombers/546557.md?page=2)