Reply #15: No... people, including suicide bombers, kill themselves for all sorts of reasons. [View All]

See:

The Hard Truth About Suicide Bombers
By Nichole Argo, AlterNet. Posted May 8, 2006.

<snip>

But these arguments fall short. At present, bombers are primarily Muslim, but this was not always so. Nor does indoctrination play a strong role in growing today's selfselected global jihad networks. Rather, militants and bombers are propelled by social ties. And even when jihadis use the Qur'an and Sunna to frame their struggle, their justifications for violence are primarily secular and grievance-based.

More:
http://www.alternet.org/audits/35815/


See also:

Suicide after US poll

<snip>

A man apparently distraught at the outcome of last week's presidential election, climbed into the pit marking the spot in New York where the twin towers once stood, and shot himself, the authorities said at the weekend.

City police told reporters the body of Andrew Veal, 25, of Athens, Georgia, was discovered in the restricted area around the wreckage of the World Trade Centre on Friday night with a shotgun and a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey by his side. He is believed to have died from a head wound.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/nov/08/uselections2004.usa



Also:

Self-immolation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

<snip>

Self-immolation, while tolerated by Buddhism and Hinduism, was practiced by monks, especially in India for Sati, throughout the ages, for various reasons, including political protest, devotion, renouncement, etc.. Certain warrior cultures also practiced it, such as in the case of Charans and Rajputs.

During the Great Schism of the Russian Church, entire villages of Old Believers burned themselves to death in an act known as "fire baptism". Scattered instances of self-immolation have also been recorded by the Jesuit priests of France in the early 1600s. Their practice of this was not intended to be fatal, though. They would burn certain parts of their bodies (limbs such as the forearm, the thigh) to signify the pain Jesus endured while upon the cross. <2>

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation


Also:


Protesting Iraq war, a Chicago man sets self on fire and dies.

On Saturday the Sun-Times ran a small item about a man who had set himself on fire during rush hour Friday morning near the Ohio Street exit on the Kennedy. His identity had not been determined at the time, but members of the local jazz and improvised music community now say they are certain it was Malachi Ritscher, a longtime supporter of the scene.

More:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/08/protesting-iraq-war-.html



People fight, kill, die and sacrifice themselves for all sorts of things.

From the guy who throws himself on a grenade in a foxhole to save his buddies, to the kamikaze pilots of WWII, to the depressed people who commit "suicide by cop" out of pure hopelessness.

And every American who has ever volunteered to fly a nuclear bomber during The Cold War knew that if they were to be called to attack the Soviet Union and drop their bombs, it would be a one-way mission. Yes, they practiced and planned for a return flight, but they all knew they were suicide bombers.

The guys in the missile silos with the matching sets of keys all knew that they were sitting in the middle of a big, retaliatory strike bulls-eye, and the moment the order to launch was given, they would become suicide bombers themselves.

There are many causes, and many reasons, to sacrifice one's life.

Suicide and suicide bombing is not unique to the Muslim world or to religion.