In "Japan's Kamikaze Pilots and Contemporary Suicide Bombers: War and Terror" Yuki Tanaka attempts to compare the mindset of modern day suicide bombers with that of the Japanese kamikaze airmen during WWII.
By digging through their private records, Tanaka identified five psychological themes he thinks the kamikaze used as "bases for accepting or responding to a kamikaze attack mission."(pg 296). He breaks these down one by one citing personal letters, diaries and Japanese customs as evidence for the themes he believes the young airmen shared. Defending the country and its people, the bond held with their kamikaze brethren, honor and respect for their parents and the contempt for cowardice are all motives that I found I could easily identify with and had I been in their shoes, are probably reasons I would base my sacrifice on. Therefore I could easily see them crossing over to the suicide bombers mindset of our day. The last theme however, "A lack of an image of the enemy"(pg 297), is one that in my opinion does not cross over to the modern suicide attackers.
According to Tanaka, the kamikaze did not have a clear concept of who they were fighting. After reading their letters and diaries, Tanaka noticed that there were virtually no references to the enemy written. This is strange. You would think that in order to commit to taking your own life in such a violent way that you would have to develop some kind of hatred toward your adversaries. Some sort of understanding as to why you would make the ultimate sacrifice. In my opinion, this is where the contemporary suicide bombers mindset seems to differ from the kamikaze.
The men and women of today who choose to turn themselves into weapons do have a clear concept of their enemy. It is a very warped and distorted one, but it is there. They know why and believe their sacrifice is not only necessary, but that they will be rewarded for it. The extremist faction of islam has created a clear concept and has convinced them that their sacrifice is a holy one that their God will be pleased with. Tanaka believes that "religion is not the decisive factor..."(pg 299) that makes someone decide to become a suicide attacker and I agree with him. However, what it has done, is created a clear concept of who the enemy is and why they must be defeated.
As far as I know the kamikaze had no religious reasoning for their attacks and Tanaka does not present any in his analysis of their reasoning. But when I looked up the word "kamikaze", I was struck by its meaning. According to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/kamikaze, the Japanese meaning of "kamikaze" is "divine wind". Interesting no? Was their also a "divine" purpose?
Do you think that the only difference between someone dropping a bomb from a fighter plane onto a crowded street and someone blowing themselves up on a crowded street is technological superiority?
1 comment:
I really liked your comparison of the feelings towards the enemy that the kamikaze pilots and suicide bombers of today. As for your question, I think the main difference between dropping a bomb on a crowded street, as opposed to someone blowing themselves up is a matter of disassociation and or forethought. In order to drop a bomb, you are not really part of the result...you just push a button. If you don't really think about it, it might be fairly easy to do. However, to involve yourself by carrying the bomb and detinating, you really have to put some thought into the fact that once you detinate, its all over.
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