Humans as Weapons

1712 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: how media influences terrorism

Its a terrible feeling when I see one person kill many others by detonating some kind of bomb while at the same time killing themselves. There has to be more to why this person did this terrible act rather than the favored thought that they were psychologically unstable, because these suicidal acts continuously happen. Some people think all suicide bombers have characteristics in common, but thats not always the case. These terrorists are sometimes forced or raised to believe that suicide bombing is the only way to fight for their political positions, religious beliefs, or their personal motives. The attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was an eye opener to the world. These suicide attacks continued all around the world in different forms and sizes. It became the norm to see another suicide attack reported on the news. Its been a bias to think these “suicide bombers” are psychotic and selfish to want to kill themselves and also kill many others. After more than a decade since the 9/11 attack, suicide bombing is still curious to most people. Research has tended to focus on the mindset of suicide bombers rather than the motivations of the organizations that plan out these missions for these individuals. These organizations are using suicide bombing as a lethal weapon. The first suicide bombing was by accident in Russia by terrorist Ignaty Grinevitsky (Lewis). Grinevitsky was apart of a terrorist group who wanted to murder Alexander II, the leader of Imperial Russia (Lewis). They tried numerous times but failed and became desperate (Lewis). Grinevitsky and another terrorist planned to ambush Alexander using small hand thrown bombs (Lewis). The first terrorist threw his bomb only damaging Alexanders carriage and for... ... middle of paper ... ...Arie W., Chen, Xiaoyan, Dechesne, Mark, Fishman, Shira, and Orehek, Edward. “Fully Committed: Suicide Bombers' Motivation and the Quest for Personal Significance.” Political Psychology 30.3 (2009): 331-357. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. Lewis, Jeffrey. The Human Use of Human Beings: A Brief History of Suicide Bombing. Origins, 2013. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. Piazza, James A. "A Supply-Side View of Suicide Terrorism: A Cross-National Study."The Journal of Politics 70.01 (2008): Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. Soibelman, Mali. “Palestinian Suicide Bombers.” Journal of Investigative Psychology & Offender Profiling 1.3 (2004): 175-190. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. Weinberg, Leonard, Pedahzur, Ami, and Canetti-Nisim, Daphna. The Social and Religious Characteristics of Suicide Bombers and Their Victims. Academia.edu, 2003. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • Boston Marathon Bombings

    1908 Words  | 4 Pages

    Speckhard, A. (2013). The Boston Marathon Bombers: the Lethal Cocktail that Turned Troubled Youth to Terrorism. Perspectives On Terrorism, 7(3). Retrieved from http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/268/540

    Read More

  • Dalton Conley You May Ask Yourself Analysis

    395 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Brym’s article he discusses what research has shown about the motivations of suicide bombers. Brym and my fellow classmate explained to me how suicide bombers may be motivated by politics, religion, or retaliatory aims (Brym, Kyra Howard). Both Brym and Howard helped me view the issue of suicide bombers in multiple

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Robert Pape's 'Dying To Win'

    1493 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Robert Pape’s Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism he investigates the three hundred and fifteen suicide terrorist attacks that have occurred from its beginning in 1980 up until 2003. By examining these attacks he explains the three logics behind suicide terrorism, the strategic, the social, and the individual logic. Pape uses Dying to Win as a tool to educate the public on suicide terrorism. He hopes people will begin to understand that it is not irrational, but requires reason and strategy. He brings to light that suicide terrorism is not directly correlated with Islamic fundamentalism, but rather political objectives, trying to put to rest many preconceived notions. By understanding the logic behind suicide terrorism people can work together to prevent it from happening in the future. After reading this book it is clear that suicide terrorism is not random, but does demand some thought in order for it to work.

    Read More

  • Juergensmeyer Martyrs And Demons Chapter 6 Summary

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    Juergensmeyer mentions that these suicide bombers are not thought of as such by the extreme Islamic groups, but rather as “self-chosen martyrs," a term brought up by Dr. Rantisi, which defines these people as soldiers in a great war who honorably gave up their lives for the sake of their community and religion. As important this sense of martyrdom is in radical Islam, so is the idea of enemies. The primary enemy is always the religious rival or local political authority that directly threatens the activist group (Radical Islams) and what they stand for. The Secondary Enemy is a moderate leader on ones (Radical Islams) own side. They are seeing as protecting the Primary enemy, for example a moderate leader in the West attempting to have good relations with America. More than any other nation, the US is viewed as the enemy for radical Islamics, clearly shown by the 9/11 attacks on the Word Trade

    Read More

  • Emile Durkheim On Suicide Analysis

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    Emile Durkheim’s theory paints a clear narrative for the type of suicide used by suicide bombers, so the question is - is suicide acceptable under Islamic religion; one answer is how it is illustrated and how you interpret the Qur’an. Radical Islamists have convoluted the traditional Islamic laws of warfare to make suicide bombings reasonable. According to the website TheReligionofPeace.com, “the point of the bomber isn’t suicide – it is to kill infidels in battle. This is not just permitted by Muhammad, but encouraged with liberal promises of earthly rewards in heaven, including food and sex.” Zarein Ahmedzay pleaded guilty to terrorist charges involving a possible suicide mission on the United Sates in 2009. He quoted the Qur’an during his plea to justify his decision, “Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and wealth for the price of Paradise, to fight in the way of Allah, to kill and get killed. It is a promise binding on the truth in the Torah, the Gospel and the Qur’an.” (New York Post) Some Muslims feel suicide bombings are a sin and a recent development of the twentieth century. They claim suicide bombings are not

    Read More

  • The Cult of The Suicide Bomber an Article by Robert Fisk

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tobena, Adolf, and Scott Atran. "Individual factors in suicide terrorism." Science Vol. 304 No. 5667 2004 pp. 47+. Accessed online < http://go.galegroup.com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA115495163&v=2.1&u=macquarie&it=r&p=EAIM&sw=w&asid=58a10bc2894e4b0625a274e61edab41c > 14/04/14

    Read More

  • Personality Characteristics Of A Terrorist

    725 Words  | 2 Pages

    More and more in the world today, circumstances have brought about changes in how members have used radical protesting. One way used to protest a situation is through terrorism, and the people who exercise violence in the pursuit of what they hold to be just causes are alternately known as terrorists. This movement, although viewed as barbaric, requires a person to view the needs and goals of a particular cause to be greater than that of the well being of others. There are certain characteristic traits that can be found in the majority of terrorism, which can identify a profile of a terrorist’s mind. A terrorist is not just an insane person, but also possibly a person that has been forced either by personal decision or by situations beyond control to choose an “insane” method to achieve an unachievable goal.

    Read More

  • What Motivates Suicide Bombers?

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    Children an suicide bombers and some Islamic parents make their kids become a suicide bomber just because they can. As a child they would have no choice but to obey their parents. Television shows that are violent really influence the mind of a bomber. Any electronic device can seriously harm their minds to a point where there is no return. The bomber acts in contests with the others who put their own values ahead and reinforce attitudes (Lauri Friedman). The suicide bomber has been around for 33 years that’s over 3 century’s The first suicide bomber was found in 1980.

    Read More

  • Simon Cottee's What Motivates Terrorists?

    268 Words  | 1 Pages

    What internally drives a terrorist’s motivation varies from subject to subject. While the average American citizen would likely be quick to point terrorists hate the western way of life and what it represents, the issue is far more complex. Simon Cottee’s article “What Motivates Terrorists?” (2015), looks at various levels of motivation. Prior definitions of terrorism looked at the defining cause as possibly psychological abnormalities within in the individual (Cottee, 2015). As studies have evolved, the focus has shifted to the environment in which the terrorist is surrounded. While certainly there is cases in which a person who is mentally unstable could be an ideal target for terrorist propaganda, the number of cases involving mental

    Read More

  • Motivations for a Terrorsit Organization

    2122 Words  | 5 Pages

    suicide bomber, religion is not the only element that is involved. There are other elements

    Read More

  • Creating Terrorists Using Social Psychological Conditioning

    2258 Words  | 5 Pages

    Stahelski, Anthony. “Terrorists Are Made, Not Born: Creating Terrorists Using Social Psychological Conditioning.” HomelandSecurity.org. Homeland Security, Mar. 2004. Web. 31 Dec. 2011.

    Read More

  • Suicide Terrorism Essay

    1744 Words  | 4 Pages

    Scott Atran discusses the common misconceptions that people have about suicide terrorism. Those misconceptions are that suicide attackers are all evil, homicidal psychos who are uneducated, live in poverty, and want to achieve anarchy (Atran 5). However contrary to popular belief most of these attackers are neither impoverished, uneducated, or crazy. This kind of misunderstanding hinders and impedes on any chance of finding a solution or realizing that the issue is one that is manageable (Atran 5).

    Read More

  • The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism by Pape, Bloom, and Horowitz

    1414 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pape believes that suicide terrorism is focused around democracies and occupation. After conducting his research, Pape discovered that from 1980 to 2001, records of suicide terrorism have had three main reoccurring, necessary properties: timing, nationalist goals, and target selection. Pape (2003) explains that, when it comes to timing, “nearly all suicide attacks occur in organized, coherent campaigns, not as isolated or randomly timed incidents” (347). Thus, Pape infers there is strategic reasoning behind this way of terrorizing the masses. He further states campaigns of suicide terrorism focus on gaining oversight of territory terrorists deem as their national homeland.

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Strategic Logic Of Suicide Terrorism

    739 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his article “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism”, Robert A. Page tried to find the answer on the question: ‘Why is the number of suicide terrorist attacks increasing last decades?’. Answering this question, he developed the theory about suicide terrorism’s logic and he presented it in details. Because it’s controversial matter, he analyzed terrorists’ assessments of suicide terrorism from different sides. To emphasize his arguments, he examined this issue through intifada against Israel.

    Read More

  • Terrorism And PTSD

    1341 Words  | 3 Pages

    result of the lifestyle and activities that the terrorists are involved in, this process is known to be hazardous and stressful. “The variables that may be of importance in contributing to mental illness many include: terrorist lifestyle, terrorism effect, terrorist group conflict, interrogation effects, and the effect on the individual of the conditions of imprisonment(incarceration)” (Jones and Moran, 2003, p. 702). PTSD is one of the primary variables they focus on in the article. Most of the general public attributes PTSD to be associated solely with military personal. PTSD has been diagnosed in non-military individuals. A recent study conducted in the Middle East in “20007 studied 1500 children specifically 600 Palestinians, 450 Israeli

    Read More

More about Humans as Weapons

Open Document