<I find it hard to believe that a child would freely choose life over death. >.
C2, ignoring your back to front mistake, there is always a good supply of young people inclined to suicide. New Zealand rates here stats.govt.nz and I guess other countries have comparable numbers [though NZ's is one of the highest I believe, which gives the lie to this place being any kind of paradise]
We have 1:1000, each year, so in a place where there are perhaps 1 million in the age groups, that's 1000 ready to go each year. Overlay that with the other half of the suicide equation, which is those inclined to suicidal violence [apparently murder and suicide are two sides of the same coin, which makes sense to me] and you have a quorum for a suicide-bombing intifada.
Then, stir it up with an ethnic, tribal enemy and an existential war and more will join in, just as young men in their thousands enthusiastically signed up to fight Hitler and the Kaiser, with no thoughts of suicide and no particular pre-existing desire to kill.
There's not a lot of need for brain-washing, Stockholm Syndrome, training, propaganda, religious hogwash and so on.
Each time the Israelis kill somebody, their brothers, cousins and sisters must develop malevolent thoughts of revenge.
The Stern Gang echoes are reverberating down through history. Begin and buddies have got a lot to answer for. The concept of a Promised Land is nuts in the modern world. We could all promise ourselves some land taken from our ancestors by force, generations ago.
Choosing death over life is considered quite heroic, in European cultures too, when fighting evil. Kamikaze bombers did it. Those landing on D-day didn't think they'd all be going home.
I think you are right that actual children are less inclined to choose death over life, but the suicide bombers are not children. They are young adults. It's not surprising at all to me that they fight back. That's what young males do, even at the cost of their lives. Young women join in too.
Mqurice |
