Are those terrorists genetically defective, under the influence of a virus, or what?

They are just very angry, very misguided people, some of whom believe so strongly in an after-life and that what they are doing is right that they truly believe blowing themselves will reward them in the next life.

Fucking losers, lol

All religious fundamentalists are defective.

Hatred leads to the Dark Side ™, remember?

Terrorists are always zealots.

In this country, Timothy McVeigh was a such a true believer. Usually, terrorists have restructured their own personal problems to be the fault of others.

Because it is not rational, I think it is a kind of mental illness, but it does not meet the legal definition of insanity, because they know right from wrong.

Why look for biological reasons? Nurture is more important than nature, and when you’ve been nurtured to hate, your genetics have no role.

They are no different from Nazi soldiers, Kamikaze pilots, Christian crusaders, or any of the uncountable groups of people who have committed acts of horrible violence while still being perfectly normal, even elite, members of their society. Violence is intimately connected to human nature, and is no more of an aberration than our ‘civilized’ behavior. We do what we feel we should do in response to our environment and our beliefs, and if that involves blowing up a marketplace, then we will. No need to blame it on a virus or genetic mutation; it’s just part of humanity, it always has been and presumably always will be, even if it is buried by cultural progress.

Terrorists aren’t infected with a virus or anything else, they are just as regular as you or I. They are simply brainwashed by their culture to accept such drastic actions as being a part of the right thing to do, just as many Japanese businessmen who commit crimes still feel the need to kill themselves, to regain their family’s honour. Sometimes the brainwashing comes from culture, sometimes from religion, and sometimes in part of having a broken brain.

Generally speaking though, no I do not believe there is a genetic influence for terrorism, especially violent suicidal ones. Genes want to survive, not kill their host.

Let me put this in another way so perhaps you can see it from their point of view:

Are these “revolutionaries” that want to break away from Mother England and form their own little “United States” in the colonies crazy? Are they genetically defective? Are they plain stupid, or simply violent? Why would they fight against the rightful King, who was chosen by God himself to be the ruler of these colonies? What is this crap about “all men are equal” and “justice for all”? Why would anyone commit such a hideous terrorist act as throwing the King’s tea in the water at Boston? What a waste of tea!

So why did they? What do you think? Why do people die for something as stupid as an idea, as vague as “freedom” or “religion”, as tiny and insignificant as “justice”? Why would anyone choose to blow himself up to make a point, and sacrifice his own life in the hope that others (in his view) may be saved? In their own eyes, these people are not “misguided”, or at least no more misguided than your average Thomas Jefferson. They’re not even martyrs. They are heroes.

@Jack79 Prepare for flames.

I suspect, they are angry, desperate people, plagued by a lifetime of war and trauma, who think they have nothing left to lose and decide to make a really bad decision.

@Sampson only if there are Americans on the site…oops, I think there might be a few now that you mention it

Bad brain chemicals and bad influence.

See the indie film, Paradise Now

It was written and directed in 2005 by a Palestinian and discusses the questions of how young Palestinians are recruited for suicide missions.

It received many awards, among them an Oscar nomination for best foreign film, a Golden Globe award and one from Amnesty International, among dozens of foreign ones. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445620/awards

Its not a genetic thing, as I’m pretty sure that if you had any other group of people put them through the same experiences you would probably get similar results. These aren’t savages or barbarians, just people who feel they have no more options.

As a hypothetical: imagine if the military of a occupying country dropped a bomb on your house and killed your spouse, children and parents. Honestly what would you do? (What did we do, when it was American families who were lost on 9/11? How did we respond, and how is that different to what these people are doing?) The rage and grief combined with the feeling of having nothing left to live for might be enough to drive otherwise moderate people to try to take as many of the people they viewed as responsible down with them. That in no way makes their retaliation justifiable, but it does make them more understandable.

Seriously though, if someone asked me what I thought would be the most effective way to get as many people to turn to terrorism as possible, I would suggest bombing civilian targets, detaining and torturing people, and showing a complete disregard for peaceful solutions.

Ever hear anyone say that violence is cyclical?

Here’s a very interesting short excerpt from the book “Terrorism – A Global Scourge”
by Eluma Ikemefuna Sylas:

Terrorism essentially is the last resort of the desperate, the crestfallen, the aggrieved, the short-changed, the hoodwinked and those who were denied socio-economic and sundry justice. The beast terrorism that has convulsed the world is the religion of the broken-hearted, a singsong for the anarchists; the dream of the marginalized and the battle cry of the oppressed for societal repositioning and re-engineering. It is a radical and forceful demand for justice, for a new socio-political order, fair play, truth, equity, fundamental rights and so forth.

In history, groups relapse to terrorism, when they believe all other avenues, including economics, protest; public appeal and organized warfare, has been blocked. Martin Luther King said: “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. It is hoped humanity is knowledgeable enough to realize that total justice begets total peace and unity, and gross injustice attracts gross anarchy and mass-victim terrorism.

Stronger nations should not interfere in the local affairs of weaker countries. Anarchists should be made also by dialogue – not under duress – to see the need for laws, authorities and governments. Elimination or Saddamization of enemies or perceived adversaries will not stem the tide of terrorism nor will brutalizing of opposition suffice. Muzzling of internal dissent in any given circumstance is even, a greater disservice to government authorities; in that such precarious condition represents an incandescent threat to public security, and societal well-being and it should be discountenanced, because it is sure the fastest means of recruiting terrorist elements, from the disgruntled multitude.

http://www.publicbookshelf.com/fiction/terrorism-global-scourge/reasons-terrorism

While nothing is impossible, I think Occam’s razor here suggests more mundane explanations. It does not take a virus, a defect, or a conspiracy theory to turn desperate people into desperate acts. I think it is (maybe unfortunately) true that any person can reduced to fanatical and desperate thinking leading to this kind of attacks.

Rather than make such theories, you might want to try and use your imagination to construct a scenario where you would be ready to sacrifice yourself in an armed attack—if you are not used to putting yourself into the mindset of different people, you might need to start from very far-fetched ones including zombies or an extraterrestrial invasion or a legislative body who actually would change their minds about something seeing you explode, but I guarantee that finding the conditions where this could happen to you will be very educational.

The line of thought that it’s a “genetic defect” is actually one that could inspire ideas of genocide, bigotry, racism, and all types of bad stuff.