On Sun, 3 Feb 2008, Dwayne Monroe wrote:
> But, whenever people talk about the Pacific War suicide attack
> phenomenon, cultural/religious explanations are given prominence over
> and above practical considerations.
>
> We tend to do the same thing when discussing ME suicide bombings.
In the ME it's also partly because it takes place in conjunction with terrorism, which always already has a magical view of the world even when it has nothing to do with suicide bombing. Terrorism (as opposed to terror tactics used during a conventional war) usually targets something that seems to have no causal connection but is deemed to be a symbolic lynchpin that will explode the Spectacle, cause the people to rise up, fall down, etc. There was no suicide bombing among the Red Brigades, no any religion either, but their thinking was just as magical.
Your WWII analogy is a very good way to disengage the two. And one can go one more step beyond the kamikazis into the everyday "suicide" mission of which there were hundreds on all sides during that massive war, all with perfectly rational motives. And all with the participants probably muttering something more or less religious to themselves at the crisis point whether for condolence or an appeal to primitive luck.
And with that you see unveil the rational core of suicide attacks: it's when you figure you're all going to die if you do nothing. So better that only a few of you die and the rest survive. And for doing that we promise to remember you as a hero. Which, since we're all going to die anyway, is not a irrational thing to want either.
Michael