[lbo-talk] The bomber's psyche (was Bombs in London)

James Heartfield Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
Thu Jul 28 12:36:51 PDT 2005


Marvin Gandall writes "The following profile of one of the London suicide bombers, Mohammad Khan, suggests the political and psychological characteristics of the Islamists are somewhat more complex", before retailing the story about Mohammad Sidique Khan's voluntary work taking children to school and as a classroom assistant.

All of which is very interesting, especially as Khan is reckoned to be the mastermind (by dint of his age). This is presented as a big paradox in the British press, but I don't think it is quite so strange. Rather, it seems to me that the psychology of volunteering and civic activism is not so very distant from that of the incendiarist. The same narcissistic preoccupation with sacrificing oneself to a 'higher cause' informs voluntary work and terror. In both cases the apparently selfless act in fact underscores the activist's imagined superiority to the mass.

Khan's uncontrollable display of moral indignation at the war fits the profile of the Kierkegaardian "enemy of the people" and his final terroristic act. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.



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