At 12:47 PM -0400 9/20/01, Stephen Black wrote:
>A less ambiguous answer to the question is in an article titled
>"Rational Fanatics" by Ehud Sprinzak (at
>http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_SeptOct_2001/sprinzak.html),
>originally published in _Foreign Policy, Sept/Oct 2000). He
>provides an informative analysis of suicide bombing, and argues:
>
>"The Black Tigers [Tamil Tigers] constitute the most significant
>proof that suicide terrorism is not merely a religious phenomenon
>and that under certain extreme political and psychological
>circumstances secular volunteers are fully capable of martyrdom.
>The Tamil suicide bombers are not the product of a religious
>cult, but rather a cult of personality".
>
>That opinion clearly supports Wayne Spencer's contention.
One might still speculate on cultural transmission and the role Islamic
traditions (going back to the Assassins in the 12th century) played in the
development of Tamil ideology.
* PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* Psychology Dept Minnesota State University, Mankato *
* 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 *
* http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html *
