Were suicide bombers suicidal?

@rebbel I think they are more accurately called homicide bombers.

They are brainwashed to do these things for sure.

From their side, they’re more akin to soldiers than suicidal. They’ve been told it is an honorable sacrifice to further their cause. Some people believe they have a special place waiting for them as well in whatever comes after.

Does that make them brainwashed? I don’t think it’s that uncommon, so I’d say no.

Most warrior societies I can think of have some sort of honorable death. The difference is suicide bombers take the lives of people not involved in their war. Civilians, innocents, whatever you want to call them. That’s what makes them cowardly, they kill people that would not kill them and who are not at all engaged in their battle.

I don’t think you’ll find a unique mental state. They want to belong, they want to be important, they want to have power. What’s unique is they have no concern or perspective for the others involved.

Self-centered people who want to exert their will on others aren’t that rare.

No they are focused on the target not what will happen to them. They wouldn’t go out into the parking lot and trigger the bomb vest.

A suicidal as someone who throws himself on a grenade to save his comrades.

I think motivations are wildly varied. Short answer is yes, some probably are at the “end of their rope.”

Others are out for revenge, or strategic last resort… Or feel they have nothing to lose.

It seems likely that a more accurate term would be sacrificial or self-sacrificial. I would expect that often they thinking of it as giving their lives for their family or their people.

See Nathan Hale’s quote remembered with fond patriotic pride by Americans, in the context of the American Revolution (which was considered an illegal rebellious outrage by the British and many Americans at the time): “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

In some cases, it may also (or instead) involve threats to or reward for the person’s family. In a war-torn region, people may be desperate for security and means to provide for their families, and/or to avoid them being victimized, and so take work the only or best place it is available, which may be doing violence for the only people with cash, and/or who might otherwise do things to your family.

Or other mindsets.

I think most of them believe they are martyrs for a cause. Whether we’re talking about the modern day stereotypical “Muslim fanatical” bomber or the Japanese kamikaze pilots of WWII, their motivations are tied to a fanatical devotion to a cause, a religion, or a leader. One big difference in the two examples I cited above is that with the kamikaze pilots the collateral damage would be considered to be enemy combatants, fair game in wartime; whereas the current crop of suicidal bombings often claim the lives of noncombatants.

Then you have all the grey areas: coercion, mostly by threat to loved ones. These individuals are just as much victims as any others killed by the explosion.

It’s a matter of perspective. They are heroes to some, delusional killers to their victims. It’s simply a matter of where you enlist that determines your award for suicidal behavior. 1000 virgins or the Congressional Medal of Honor : courage above and beyond or insane depravity; it all depends on your point of view.

I don’t think their suicide is motivated by depression; I do think they’re joining the cause (Neo-Nazism, ISIS) may be motivated by alienation and then they are brainwashed.

Those who “go postal” and kill others and then themselves are often mentally ill but that is different from politically motivated suicide-bombers.

Suicide bomber is kind of an Oxymoron. If you are going to fly a plane into a building or drive a truck full of explosives into a crowd or strap a bomb to your body, well, obviously, you’re going to be, willingly, sacrificing your life along with the of your target. I agree with @Strauss and @janbb martyrs for your cause yes, motivated by depression no.

Could researching the motives and/or mental state of said persons be beneficial for the society that could potentially suffer from these terrorists?

The University of Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism has collected data on most of the world’s suicide attacks since 1982.

The project founder, Robert Pape has said:

“What 95 percent of all suicide attacks have in common, since 1980, is not religion, but a specific strategic motivation to respond to a military intervention, often specifically a military occupation, of territory that the terrorists view as their homeland or prize greatly. From Lebanon and the West Bank in the 80s and 90s, to Iraq and Afghanistan, and up through the Paris suicide attacks we’ve just experienced in the last days, military intervention—and specifically when the military intervention is occupying territory—that’s what prompts suicide terrorism more than anything else.”

The problem is that suicide bombers are often ordinary people rather than homicidal maniacs or suicidal depressives. They can go about their lives in much the same way that we go about ours giving no indication even to those closest to them that they are planning mass murder. Psychological profiling has been of limited use in identifying suicide bombers because they appear so normal. Their minds nevertheless must be twisted and one approach might be to find out what is twisting them.

They regard them as saint heros. Every country needs blood to establish a firm regime, and the one who satisfied their lives will be respected by the citizen. Some people love money, and some enjoy being respected. Bomber is brave when they decide to suicide. However, they should not kill other innocent people. Because they havedone nothing to the bombers or their country. So I despise them. They should kill only themselves, detonate the device in their own house and own country.

Well, they are told there is an afterlife, and they will be heros. They’ll be able to look down and see how proud everyone is of them.
I wonder how many people who commit suicide would do it if they didn’t think there was an afterlife.

They are murderers.
Every attempt to represent them as something else is, in many cases, a symptom of the Western world’s current psychopathology of moral confusion.
They are murderers.
If you question this premise, in my opinion, you are confused or a coward.

I do think brainwashing plays a significant part in the suicide bomber’s behavior. Many of the most recent cases have involved people who have been born and raised in the country they attack. However, in the most Spanish terrorist cell, the Muslim community have pointed to a visiting and radicalised Moroccan Imam who may have influenced the men, who prior to that had been described as normal young people who enjoyed doing every day things. This isn’t a new or unusual story.

Our young people, regardless of their faith or cultural background, are more impressionable. They are easy targets for those who wish to use them. Young people are also often more idealistic and less secure in their identity than more mature members of society. They are vulnerable to the influence of radicals.

I have a little personal experience in this area. I can tell you that it gets down to the fact that they are stupid at a level that most Westerners can not comprehend.
The dumbest among you have something that sort of looks like an education.
The people you are talking about are stupid. Stupid meaning as clueless as one can be and still be regarded as a sentient human being.
And maybe more stupid than that.
Your enemy is not really bombers.
It is people who are so dumb that you simply cannot comprehend it, so you come up with some other excuse for them.

Most westerners can’t comprehend? How many shootings here have ended in the shooter killing them-self? It seems like a common theme. It is the same fucking thing. (sort of)

Except you have suicide bombers in Israel with actual grievances and here we have kids that were teased in high school and dudes pissed at their bosses or caught their wife banging the Comcast dude.

@josie, some of the most recent terrorist attacks in Europe have been carried out by Westerners. People who were born, raised and educated no Westerners.

@Earthbound_Misfit

Even some Westerners are stupid beyond redemption.

Hence

This is so crass, like asking if every soldier ever joined the armed forces because they wanted to murder someone…yeah right.

A pointless question indeed, as the answer is ‘yes’.

Predicted that, wrong of course unless referring to nazi’s

I think the question is, do they get into suicide missions because they want to die? I don’t think most of them do. If it were an American, that may be the case, but from what I’ve seen the countries from the far east and middle east have religions that pound into their heads that they will be heroes and they will live in glory for eternity. They believe there is a huge reward at the end, not absolutely nothing.

I’ve always wondered how drugs play a part in this.

Brainwashing is a very powerful force.