2008/03/13 Tel Aviv
Conversation
A young man
We all have heard of the suicide bomber who finished her meal quietly in a restaurant before detonating herself in that same restaurant.
But this paragraph in Tuesday’s Herald Tribune about the suicide bombing that killed five US soldiers in Baghdad is even more unsettling: ‘An Iraqi Army officer at the scene said that the suicide bomber was a young man who walked up to the soldiers and engaged them in conversation. "He came and stood beside them and started talking to them and then detonated himself," the officer said.’
To talk to the people you are going to kill is as difficult, or even more difficult than eating your own pet.
But maybe this thinking is naive.
Talking and killing is as easy as talking and torturing.
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14 comments 
Easy
The mere fact that there are people who are capable of making polite conversation with their victims does not mean that blowing people up is easy. It is easy for some, but if it were easy for most our societies would be a lot more violent. Notwithstanding our cultural obsession with violence, I suspect most people still get through life without undergoing or undertaking killing or torture.It's not naive.
Talking and killing is more difficult, especially when you're detonating yourself.
Talking and killing is more difficult, especially when you're detonating yourself.
Why should it be difficult for someone to talk to the people he´s going to kill?
I even have difficulties killing lobsters. I can't imagine how it feels to kill a human being or having some smalltalk in the course of the action.
Mieke
Why do you kill lobsters?ow
She just hates them. I agree. Lobsters are pretty annoying. Inferior also. When i get the chance i kill them too.A competent suicide bomber should perform his function perfectly, therefore he/she should look and act as a normal human being.
Not an impossible task nowadays with all those coaches and human resource trainers. They are constantly improving their human resources for whatever purpose.
Not an impossible task nowadays with all those coaches and human resource trainers. They are constantly improving their human resources for whatever purpose.
@ Oscar
Hate to kill them, but love to eat them.I have some delicious recipes by the way.
Is a suicide bomber in a normal state of consciousness? Can we imagine what he or she is going through?
Mieke
Why do you hate killing lobsters?@ Oscar
I think lobsters are superb and beautifull creatures. They really struggle when you are putting them to boil. Gently rubbing their heads is one method to calm them down again. And no, that is no easy task. I am very much aware they are alive and kicking, but I also think that you should be capable of killing the animals you want to eat.Mieke
Have you considered eating something else?Mieke
I agree that one should be able to kill the animals that one wants to eat.speaking of lobsters
I think a war conflict tend to alter basic emotions like pitty or reason! It totally destroys how people see eachother. Both sides cant see eacother as human beeings no more. And in that sens, a pack of soldiers become an aquarium of lobsters to that person. And not only on the terrorist side.(arnon your blog is great!)
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