Suicide is Painful

Look: the war on terror isn't winning the war on terror. Everyone knows that, in fact, the more you go to war on terror the more terror you create, one way or another. And the major reason that we find it so hard to counteract terrorism is the suicide bomber. As has often been said, if someone is happy to die in the attempt to kill people, then it is almost impossible to stop them doing so.

And why are so many people happy to die in the attempt? Strap belts loaded with explosives and nails and bolts and ball-bearings around their body and push a button that will cut them in half leaving only a head to identify. Or drive a truck, similarly loaded, into the middle of a crowd and press a button that will not even leave a head to identify. Or open fire with an automatic weapon in a crowded station knowing they will be cut down by police or army. Well, because they have been told, firmly and definitely, that there is life after death. Yes, rewards of various kinds in heaven/paradise, but fundamentally the reward is that you get to live again.

But easy to fix. All that needs to happen is that all religious leaders combine to solve the problem -- declare, in unison, that there is no life after death. Make whatever excuses they are comfortable with. Sorry, bit of a mis-reading of an ancient parchment; sorry, bit of a mis-hearing of an imaginary voice. Sorry, we really thought it was the case, but it's obvious by now that after all this time there would have been some kind of evidence of a second life. And several hundred years of biological research, let alone common sense and common observation of every life form on Earth, including the strangely deluded Homo Sapiens, tells us that life after death is just a fairy story, a tale to get you through the night.

Don't get us wrong, the elderly men dressed in various colored robes and funny hats would say, we still think religion is a jolly good thing. Makes people act ethically. Makes them docile citizens. Makes them contented with their lot and unlikely to embrace socialism. Maintains harmony in society. Inspires art and music and architecture and supports the wedding industry. OK? So don't stop coming to church, donating money to support your local religious leaders, but just forget about the after death business. You blow yourself up you stay dead.

And we would appreciate it if the media would stop their mealy-mouthed pussy-footing around the issue. We appreciate that they didn't want to offend anyone, but we are over that now. So, people don't "pass" or "pass away", they are not "laid to rest" and don't "rest in peace", we won't see them on "the other side" (there is no other side), there are no pearly gates, no virgins, no nothin: dead is dead. People just die.

Now, call me naive, but I reckon that after a statement like that the makers of bomb belts would experience a sharp global financial crisis. I reckon the next time some charismatic terrorist leader told a young man, or woman, to go and blow themselves up in the cause, they might get told to blow themselves up if they were so keen on ending their lives. Oh and people might start putting a bit more care and effort into life on Earth, knowing that they only get one go at it.

And there will be more people like Sergeant Asch ("I'm not going to die for this sort of Germany") and Lance-Corporal Kowalski ("Man, perhaps one day there'll even be a Germany which is worth living for!").

Not much to ask, surely?

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Comments

[hapkidokid]

How unfortunate that you would reduce such an entirely desperate act to one of only theological beliefs. By making such a simpleton argument you completely dismiss the conditions of squalor, desperation, and persecution that these people must feel is part of their daily lives. I am not in anyway advocating their tactics, merely pointing out that one must try to understand the full breadth and width of what goes into a mindset that could create these terror tactics. And merely reducing it to the theological level, and than only to ridicule it for cheap laughs, does no one any good in getting this problem, if not figured out at least managed to a much less severe level. Too bad, I like much of your stuff, but this is subpar on many levels.

[lastpost]

Personally , the prospect does not appear to me to be problematical. Having already been dead previously. (i.e. That period before I was alive and hence was, to all intents and purposes, dead).
I recall nothing from that period, in the least way unpleasant. Furthermore, my lifespan pales into insignificance, when compared to the magnitude of time itself. So nonexistence, is in fact, my natural state.

[JohnFromCensornati]

They've got to maintain the charade or the entire enterprise will collapse.

[JohnFromCensornati]

You are incorrect about the desperation of suicide bombers. I'm not surprised that you would want to lay the blame on someone other than the god of Abraham, but that's how it is. They do it to become martyrs for their imaginary friend. If it were about desperation and despair, wouldn't there be suicide bombings in every impoverished country?

[JohnFromCensornati]

Sorry, this was a reply to jhjd.

[jhjd]

But the thing is that you DO see this same sort of desperation-fueled violence wherever there is poverty, whether it be in Iraq or in our own ghettos. The basic thought process is "my life sucks, it'll never change, so I might as well go out fighting for my god/gang/f­amily/prid­e/etc. and take down as many people as I can with me." The key to permanently stopping the violence is changing the 'my life sucks' part of the equation.

Of course, religious leaders bear a special responsibility for tackling the root causes, and I won't argue with anybody who says that the Christian community, for one, has not done all we should in this line. And yes, there are absolutely so-called "religious" leaders throughout history who have falsely manipulated people in the name of their god. But getting rid of religion is not the answer. After all - if getting to Heaven was truly the motivating factor, then wouldn't there be suicide bombings in every suburban parish?

[jhjd]

Ahh, theology.

However, I'm not commenting for the purposes of starting a debate as to whether God and Heaven exist (although my personal faith compels me to state here that they do, and that I hope you find Him). Rather, I contend that the author misses the point of suicide bombing. I don't believe that suicide bombers are motivated primarily by the future (the promise of heaven), but by the past so that the key to understanding their deaths is to understand the desperation of the life that got to that point.

Whatever the cause, whether it be a combination of mental illness/evil (depending on one's world view), deprivation, despair, hopelessness, etc., simply proclaiming that there is no after life is not going to make it go away. Taking away the future incentive may deter a few who decide that, on balance, they prefer their life, horrible as it is, to nothingness. And yet, many people would choose - do, in fact, choose every day - the nothingness over the pain. Furthermore, they would probably do so at least as violently, if not more so since, after all, there's nothing left to lose.

It is critical to our future safety that we understand (not condone, but understand) what is really happening in those places that are spawning suicide bombers and work, with mercy and peace, to change the root causes.

[David Horton - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks jhjd - yes, I think religious authorization is a necessary but not a sufficient condition.