In this TED talk video, "Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy takes on a terrifying question: How does the Taliban convince children to become suicide bombers?" Ms. Obaid-Chinoy asks an existential question to the audience nearing the end of this 8 minute clip. How would you answer it?
http://www.ted.com/talks/sharmeen_obaid_chinoy_inside_a_school_for_suicide_bombers.html
This video was very interesting and described what the Taliban did exactly. It was scary and very sad to know all these young boys are being brainwashed and taken advantage of, and in the end killed. The boys are looked at as live ammunition to the Taliban not human beings. I found it interesting how organized the system was. It is set up as like a school, where the boys learn from the Koran and are brainwashed. They are treated as if they are in a prison. They are beat twice a day. The Taliban want the boys to hate the life they are living. In the Koran they learn about the afterlife and how amazing it is. They tell the boys that after they die, god will greet them with honey, bread, and 72 virgins. They tell the young boys family, that they will give the boys a better life of food and shelter. The Taliban target poor large families. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy states 5 steps she believes the Taliban take in order to prepare and convince a child to be a suicide bomber. First step they take is the young boy is from a large poor family, second, teach the boys the Koran. The Koran is in a language they do not understand or no. They do not allow the boys to read newspapers, watch TV, or read any books. They are completely blocked out of civilization. Third, they make the boys hate the world by making their life hell. They beat them twice a day, take away food for a while, do not allow games and make them read the Koran all day long. Fourth, the older men of the Taliban tell the boys how amazing the afterlife is and how easy it is to get there. And if their intention of the suicide bomb is to please god then they are surely going to paradise. Fifthly, they use videos of women and children dying to convince the boys that the western powers do not care about them at all. This whole thing is very scary. It is sad to think of all the young men being brain washed and throwing away their lives for the Taliban. I found this video very intriguing. -Allison Lewis
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video and thinking about the circumstances of the children who fall to the hands of the Taliban, I can see how one could become susceptible to the promises “paradise” by the teachers of the suicide bombers. However, it is hard to answer Sharmeen’s question. She mentioned that the first step is attracting children from the most desolate areas to mosques (a place of worship that would appear safe) and appealing to them by offering food, water and small payments to their family. I believe that if I were in a situation where the need for resources was desperate, this would immediately draw me in. I think that if children were aware of what they would be trained to do in these schools, then they wouldn’t go in the first place. The Taliban has to build up hatred towards life and the life infidels and also the adoration and obsession with “paradise” and pleasing their god before introducing the idea of sacrifice. I don’t think I would ever go with men who told me that in order to have a more ideal; I would have to leave the one I have now. But after being pulled in by the idea of food and water for my family, then being forced to study the Koran under the depiction of the Taliban and grow a negative opinion against the Westerners, I would believe that my god wanted me to do this. Once Taliban has achieved this influence over me, I think it could be very possible that I would fall to the idea of a life of ecstasy in paradise is greater of the tragic life that I once lived. The children don’t believe they are doing anything wrong because they’ve grown and been taught to think these things are right and that in order to please the almighty god, the deciding factor of who makes it to paradise, you must surrender yourself. There is evidence of this when the young boy is asked what blessing he would receive from carrying out the attack. He said: “On the day of judgment god will ask me ‘Why did you do that?’ I will answer ‘My lord, only to make you happy!’” He then believes that if the god saw that his intentions were true and he only wanted to protect Islam from the “evils” of the infidels, then he will be granted admittance to paradise. Clearly this boy had been heavily manipulated between the time of desperation when he was enticed with food and his current mindset. I believe that after going through the motions, anyone in this position would fall for the promises of a utopia. --- Ryleigh Mullens
ReplyDeleteI will first off agree with the very first thing @Alli said. It is so scary that one day these kids are living at home with their parents, and the next day the Taliban has brainwashed them to be suicide bombers. These children could be the next Einstein's, or Nobel Peace Prize winners, but instead they are taken and transformed into something else, something evil and awful, a suicide bomber. I do not know how to go about answering Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's question. I feel this way because it is hard to even try to think about putting myself in a situation like that. But after hearing what was said in the video, it sounds like these children have no choice. Once taken, they are converted to thinking that everything that the Taliban is teaching them is correct and should be followed. The Taliban is smart in taking young kids though; their minds can easily be taken over. In my mind set, it is absurd what they are teaching them, the promise of Paradise and meeting god. I also like the quote @Ryleigh from the boy. That is what is still stuck most in my mind from the video. The way he so confidently talked about getting to meet and speak with god quite honestly scared me. Especially if that is how every young child speaks that the Taliban has manipulated. If i was stuck in the position of those kids, I would not know what to believe anymore, and quite honestly have no clue what my next step would be.
ReplyDeleteTo begin, the Taliban is taking what they believe is their role, to a whole other level. To me, as haunting as the group is, are very intelligent and precise with thier systems and decisions they make and carry out. By creating their own schools, the Taliban is starting at the base: the children. This group is so greedy and brainwashed themselves, they persaude poor families into spending their little boys to the schools in exchange for food, and money. For anyone, like Alli and Peter states, this concept is scary. I bleive no want wishes for a family to have to go through the progress of spending their kid to a Taliban schhol that young. Once the child gets to the school, they must proceed with the 5 steps to become a suicide bomber and therefore a key assest to the taliban. First, the child is from a poor family. Second, the Taliban teaches the boys Koran. The Koran is in a language the boys are foriegn to or do not completely understand. The Taliban isolate the boys out of civilization completely. Furthermore, the Taliban wants them to hate their lives by torturing their own. They beat them twice a day, take away food, do not allow any games and make them read the Koran numerous times a day. Also, the older men of the Taliban tell the boys how amazing the afterlife is and how easy it is to be accepted. The intention of the suicide bomb is to please god. Lastly, the Taliban, trying to convince the boys that western power are not interested, uses videos of women and children dying. This ultimately shows how power can over take a population and make people manipulate others, even little childern. -Jamie Wallisch
ReplyDeleteIf the Taliban took me in when I was young, I probably would not know what was right from wrong, because they would teach me the Koran in Arabic, a language I don’t know. I would trust the teachers. Yes, I would choose the glorious afterlife because they taught me my sacrificial act would glorify Islam and that I would get milk honey and 72 virgins. Under these circumstances I would think the world is a terrible place, full of infidels that must be destroyed. The thought of paradise would seem so great compared to the life under the Taliban. ~Sean Mitchell
ReplyDeleteScary, so very scary this video was to me. Here, in the glorious country that we live in, school is going in to learn, to better ourselves for the future and our life to come. But in Afghanistan and Pakistan, this Taliban school is teaching these kids that suicide is the only answer. That they will be rewarded by their suicide, their death, their ultimate end. How atrocious this is to us...how horrendous it sounds. But imagine for one moment that you are part of a family that has nothing. That has no resources, little to no food, not even the essentials to live. How would you react to anything that would help you to live or save your own life? How would you react if someone was promising you a better, perfect life that was awaiting you and the only thing you had to do was hit that button and end it all. End the terrible life you are living and enter the one that you were promised would be perfect. I know that if I was living under these circumstances and someone promised me that my life would be better if I ended it all, that I would believe them and do it. Very morbid, I know, but I am putting myself in the situation and it seems like the only thing that makes sense. Forget about morals, forget about the life you are living today and put yourself in that situation. You would most likely do anything to save yourself from the awful life you are living and to enter a new one, much better than your own. As terrible as that sounds, I believe that it's true and since these children are young and do not know any better, that this must make the most sense to them. Terrible that the Taliban can do this to these young kids and get away with it. Just simply terrible...
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with practically everyone that has responded to this video. This is horrible, this completely scary, terrifying, and I still can’t get over the fact that these people would corrupt young kids into killing themselves for a better life. I understand how they do it though. The Taliban take the types of kids from families that have absolutely nothing to go back to. They tell these children that they can be given a better life if they come and join them. They are promised food and water and clothing and anything families in those conditions would want for their children. If the Taliban tried to get kids from families higher up, it wouldn’t be as easy to achieve those kids because they have a good life already, they wouldn’t need what they “promise.” But these promises aren’t “real” per say. They could be, no one actually knows if there is an actual afterlife, its whatever the individual believes. But the Taliban take these kids, promising more, when they actually don’t give what they say. Instead, these kids are pretty much taught to hate their life. They are given a book they can’t actually understand (The Koran in Arabic), they are not allowed to read or hear anything else, they are given dried bread twice a day, and practically beaten. They learn to hate their lives so they would just want to end it all. After all, those older, wiser, teachers of theirs are telling them everything that they will receive once they do their job because they have “glorified Islam” by killing “the infidels.” It seems like a great thing, especially when you have no idea what is actually going to happen to you. I must admit though, if I was living in circumstances where my family was poor and couldn’t support me, this would sound very, very tempting… which scares me. This is a large form of corruption and it scares me to see it happening.
ReplyDeleteI first want to say that i agree with what everyone has said above. Peter made a great point about how difficult it would be to live in these children's situations. Rachel made a great point, which i completely agree with, that if you forget everything else and put yourself in the situation of these children, who have grown up from a very young age knowing nothing but the teachings of the Taliban, i would guarantee everyone would follow the path to suicide. I know i would. Think about it; you are coming from an extremely poor family, you have little to know future and your parents/siblings have a daily struggle to put food on the table as it is. When an opportunity for you to be provided shelter, food, water, "learning," for free and even the possibility of having your family paid for it arises, not only would your parents and siblings be on board with it, but you are too young to understand anything else but their decision so you are automatically on board with it too. The Taliban do such a tremendous job of 'selling it.' They create the ultimate package combining each of the necessities required to live a complete, enriched life, as well as helping your family. In doing so they can bring in many children very quickly to begin the process of becoming a suicide bomber. Once with them, the children are taught 8 hours a day about the Koran, which they cannot understand themselves or read. This way, the teachers can put the Taliban twist on Islam and the Koran making the supreme achievement become going to the afterlife through sacrifice. Along with making the kids' lives hell and teaching them to hate their own world through torture, this creates the perfect recipe for Taliban suicide destruction.
ReplyDelete-Connor Cinque
I can't help but think about how irresponsibly corrupt this process is. To me, it is sickening to think that there is a school to teach innocent children to become suicide bombers. The part that stood out most to me was when Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy says, "They teach the children the Koran, which is Islam's holiest book, in Arabic, a language these children do not understand and cannot speak. They rely very heavily on teachers who I have personally seen distort the message to these children, as and when it suits their purpose to." I think that is incredibly ridiculous, and I am trying to understand how the Taliban get away with this. These children do not know any better, for at such a young age, this is the first education they are getting, therefore, it is all they know. I agree with Sean when he implies that at such a young age, and with such strong-minded, authoritative teachers, one would not understand the difference between right and wrong. Their perspective is skewed. Also, I found many connections between this and innocent Jews being taken to concentration camps during the Holocaust. In both instances, there seems to be brainwashing taking place, as the children and people are being taken away from their homes and taught to learn a new life with new ideals. Strong powers such as the Nazi force and the Taliban take control over a fragile group of people/children. I drew similarities to the Jews being taken miles away from their home to an unfamiliar place and stripped of their humanity. Like the Jews, the children are sent hundreds of miles from home, taught certain values different from the ones they arrived with, and were deprived the life of the average child. I also agree with Peter, in that I do not know how to answer Sharmeen's question effectively. It is hard for me to put myself in their situation. I feel as though I would want to go if it gave my parents peace of mind to know I would be taken care of, yet at the same time I would not want to go far from home and learn to commit suicide in order to kill others.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching and listening to the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy speech and watching her powerful videos, I have come to the conclusion that the Taliban are brainwashing the children they are teaching to become suicide bombers. First, they are targeting the lower income families because they are providing them shelter and food. The young children are taken and taught how to become suicide bombers. Second, they are teaching them from the Koran. However the children do not know the language that the Koran is written in, so the message they hear is spun to the Taliban’s ideas. Lastly, they are targeting children because they are young and need guidance from adults. Whether it is proper guidance or destructive guidance is the issue. These children are completely brainwashed because of those three details that Obaid-Chinoy mentioned in her speech. To answer her question, I don’t know what I would choose or what I would do. I think it is very tough to decide unless you are put in that situation.
ReplyDeleteIt is terrible that children can be put in these sort of situations. Children can easily believe something told to them. Especially if they are told they can have a wonderful afterlife if their current life is as bad as it is for them. These children are being pulled into a war that they don't know about and are told to give up their lives to fight for something they don't fully understand. The Taliban has brainwashed these children into thinking all other people are bad and they are doing something god would reward them for. I think that most people put in the same situation as these children would do just as they do. If you are told something over and over again and are forced to worship an idea you will start to believe it no matter how ridiculous you might have first thought it to be. If you are given the choice of believing that you will have a wonderful afterlife or that you will die for no reason most people will try to believe what they want to hear. Everyone wants a good life and to be happy and if you are told you have to do one simple thing to get all you could want most people will do anything no matter how many people they may hurt. I don't understand how someone can lie to a child like this. Do none of these teachers have children? Are their children forced to do this? And if its so important then why cant they kill themselves for something they believe. The way these teachers can think of these people as nothing more than just a tool to win a war, reminds me of the Nazis. They thought of the people they were killing as more of animals than anything else. Animals that were just causing problems. I don't know how people can be this cruel to one another.
ReplyDelete- Kira
I agree with everyone when they say that they would most certainly take the opportunity to have a better life with clothing, food, shelter, and the pride of knowing that they are sending a stipend back to their families. If I was in the same situation as those young kids I would too take that opportunity. It's almost like a military scholarship here in the Unites States, everything is provided for you, your getting education, meals, knowledge, you send back stipends to your family, and you have the pride of knowing that you're brave enough to help your country and destroy the evil in the world. I don't know of any kid in that situation at an easily influenced age that wouldn't take the opportunity. I also agree with Connor when he says that the Taliban do such a fantastic job selling the idea to the children. It would be ridiculous to turn down an offer so good in such a bad econimic situation. However, the schools are a facade like Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy says, kids get beaten on a daily basis, they get stale bread, and are never allowed to play games or leave. It becomes their prison where they are trapped and all they can do is sucumb to the brainwashing of their teachers. It's such a sad and unfortunate situation, but a situation nonetheless that many people including myself would not turn down. - Ryan Peterson
ReplyDeleteAfter watching that video, it makes me feel so lucky to be living in somewhere like America, where we don't manipulate our youth and struggling families into sending their children off to learn about their death. What's even more heart breaking than that is hearing the kids actually say they would like to be a suicide bomber. When asked the question, they enthusiastically respond “I would love to”, as if being blown to bits is an acceptable thing. These children are being brainwashed and fooled into thinking the life they're living at this school is better than the life they could be living at home. With bread and water everyday and no games, newspapers, or radio, it's so hard to believe these kids think they're living the good life. It's just so hard to grasp the situation from the position we're in here when we see the other side and how much better it can be for them. This definitely was an eye-opener. -Julianne Hilton
ReplyDeleteI would like to first say that I can't even grasp the idea of tricking young boys and their families into letting them go to this so called school. When I think of school, i think of learning math equations, grammar, and homework. I certainly would NEVER think of learning how to become a suicide bomber. The Taliban tricks the boys and families promising that the boys will be going to paradise, having a nice place to live, and healthy food to eat. The families agree to it because they believe the Taliban and all they want is for their sons to live a good life. The school that the Taliban is running is probably the worst school to ever be allowed to teach children. The boys come to this school at a young age and they don't know what's right or wrong and they are told to listen to their teachers and do what they say. These boys are being brainwashed.
ReplyDeleteWhen Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy interviewed some of the boys, she asked them if they were excited to commit an attack, they all said they wanted to do it and were happy they could have the chance. I know this is the stuff that the boys are taught, but I want to know why the boys didn't second guess this whole thing. I also want to know how the Taliban is getting away with this?
Irresponsible manipulation at its worst. The Taliban is creating a false sense of hope for a better afterlife by making the children's lives on earth a living hell. These innocent children's rights as human beings are stripped and all decisions are made for them. As Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy said in her video the children are, "Blacked out from society...," and are forbidden to listen to the radio or read without permission. The children study the Koran which is conveniently in a different language allowing the teachers to distort the message it is trying to make and molding it to fit their agenda. Targeting poor large families living in rural areas, the Taliban preys on children like one of the video who thinks that, "god will look at my intention to eradicate evil for Islam...he will reward." The question she raised at the end of her speach was powerful and thought provoking. As Julian pointed out it makes you realize how lucky and safe we are in America. I would like to think I would not fall for the brainwashing scheme set up by the Taliban but unless I was in one of these children's shoes I don't think I can pass judgement.
ReplyDeleteOver the years of my teenage life, I have come to realize that I am a rather impressionable individual. I love conspiracy theories, psychological thrillers, and random spiritual concepts of reality. Finding a creative idea that I can use as mind candy excites me like a child finding a Christmas present. I therefore believe that if, as a child, my mind was usurped by the Taliban's teachings of the world, I would accept it immediately. The idea of a glorious afterlife would certainly be capable of entrancing me into becoming a suicide bomber, especially if my reality was a tortured prison of boredom, hunger, and pain. These children are taught to believe that they are acting heroically, and protecting their country. Their parents, teachers, and elders brainwash them from a young age, withholding truth and information and replacing it with lies and a distorted outlook on the world. I think that Kira brought up an excellent point when she questioned the need for brainwashing children in the first place, and why the teachers themselves didn't sacrifice themselves for their beliefs. It's easy to understand why the children believe that suicide is necessary, but what about the teachers, and the parents? What sort of cowards use "sacrificial lambs" to do their dirty work? This is not the first time that a society has used young, innocent minds to do its bidding, however. The Nazis were also convinced into committing atrocious crimes against humanity. All it takes is an idea to captivate the mind and turn an entire generation of innocent boys into killers.
ReplyDeleteJake Kennedy
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with Pete when he says these kids are brainwashed I think that is the perfect word to describe them. The Taliban targets poor kids and removes them from there homes and promise the families they will be taken care of. The Taliban takes the words of there bible, which the kids aren’t even familiar with and skew the ideas into making the kids believe if they blow them selves up killing other people they will be rewarded in the after life or “Paradise”. When they target these kids they are already venerable as it is and they close them off from society so they have no connection to the outside world. The goal of the Taliban is to make the kids hate the world they currently live in so they will want to become a suicide bomber. Most of the kids she interviewed were eager to blow them selves and could not wait to go on to the next life which they thought was better than the one they live in. When she asked on of the boys if he was ready to be a suicide bomber he said “if god gives me the strength” . However I do believe if I was a poor child and the Taliban came to my house and offered me food and shelter and a school I do believe I would go. There are people that say that no matter what they could never do that, but you have to consider these kids don’t know anything else and this is what there being raised to believe in. And If I believed there was a paradise waiting for me after I killed myself and I could leave the miserable world I was living in I would be excited to. These poor brainwashed kids have no idea what’s being done to them and they don’t know any better and are to young to even realize they are being manipulated by the Taliban. I have a lot of respect for Ms Obaid and what she is trying to do and she is trying to save these young boys.
What did i just watch? A bunch of kids being proud about commiting suicide and sacrificing the lives of the innocent. The Taliban are horrible role models for our generation and should be wiped out. The Koran isn't telling them lies and there basically shooting themselves in the foot. The only reason they give in is because the Taliban will provide food and shelter if a child joins them. It is the ultimate bribe but it is for a terrible cause. God wants peace
ReplyDelete-Jeff Gagnon
This video is shocking yet understandable at the same time. I tried to put myself in the same situation as these kids and found myself agreeing with the path many of them have taken. Think about it, your at a very delicate age in a very desperate situation. If I was that young, with perhaps not a whole lot of knowledge about whats going around me, I would jump at any opportunity that would help my family get out of a bad situation. I agree with Pete and all the others who agreed with him about how they are brainwashing kids to be suicide bombers. "These children are explicitly forbidden from reading newspapers, listening to radio, and reading books the teachers do not prescribe them." This is a straight up example of brain wash. The Taliban knows what they are doing is wrong, so they feel the only way they can effectively brain wash these kids is with bribes and them being the only voices in the kids ears. If a kid ever heard of the things the Taliban does and how the world views them, I doubt they would be as easily brain washed.I relate it to inner city gangs where they take in young kids in bad situations with their promises of being taken care of. In the end, they are just using them for what they want. To relate this issue back to class, I am doing a project on Darfur and in many militias across Africa, they recruit child soldiers. Kids 12 years old with machine guns. They find these kids in desperate situations and show them how to be killing machines. In the end, many of these poor kids, whether they're from Africa or the Middle East, are just products of their environment.
ReplyDeleteAs many of us must know, the Muslim radicals tend to be "radicals" in the worst meaning of the word. These people use kids because they are innocent, so they believe them. I think that they describe those kids how would the world be if they died and where would they go (paradise). An innocent kid is certainly going to think that all of those things are true when, actually, (from my atheist perspective) they are all false. In Spain teachers are usually atheist and all of them (above all the philosophy teachers) try to show us that there is nothing good waiting for us out there and, at least from my point of view, they are right. I think that a child should have been said the correct things so he/she doesn't get to stupidly commit suicide.
ReplyDeleteBut how can we prevent this (as Cassie Farley said) "irresponsible manipulation at its worst"? Well, unfortunately we can't. There are too many people that can doubtfully be considered as human beings. On the other hand, who am I to say that? I'm just another case of my own opinion.
First of all, this is a extreme surprise to me. Just how systematic the Taliban are in picking up recruits for suicide bombers and just effectively breaking down the children and brainwashing them into believing that, killing the so called infidels, will reward them paradise in the afterlife. They will be greeted with honey and several other things, and among those things would be the 72 virgins. According to Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy the recruits are just "live ammunition" for the Taliban to use and it makes me sick to the stomach. I don't understand how people can do this to other human beings and still live with the guilt, but then again it is involved with religion, and people do the craziest things in the name of religion and in this case, Islam. To answer Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's question, I would most likely live in the afterlfe, but since I don't live in those kind of conditions, I can not make a accurate choice as to which one to choose. People need to visit the conditions of the place before making any decisions about life and death. My grandmother told me that my grandfather used to live in poverty, my grandfather working with bees and several other odd jobs just to make a living. My mother was also a big help in trying to earn money for the family, which she had 1 sister and 2 brothers, but a direct effect of that was that she could not go to high school. At this point in time, my parents now work in a restaurant where it is less stressful and don't have to live in extreme poverty. Now it is my grandparents have worked their fair share and all of it paid off. This connects to this in the sense that they can get out of their current situation. They do not have to follow the Taliban. -Jacky Lim
ReplyDeleteThis was a very shocking, sketchy video, it really got me thinking about it. Even though this samll children are suicide bombers bombing 5, 10, 15, and more people at a time it isn't always bad. One of the kids said that God would ask him why did you do this, and he said he would reply with "to mak you happy." That is a part i would not agree with because killing yourself while killing other people is not going to make God happy. But with this one I have to agree completely with Lenny, these kids are going to this school to help out their family. They are not going into it knowing they are going to go bomb up a place killing people, they are too young. They were living in such bad conditions before they went to this Taliban bombing school, they go there and they get everything they have wanted. Now once they are living in this space they are then basically brainwashed into doing what they do. When Sharmeen was interviewing some of the kids, it was after they had many lessons, it had already hit them, that is why they were responding saying they will do it, or "if my father lets me." In conclusion, if i was in those living conditions, I still probably would not go and come to this school, I would try to help my family without having to go up the stairway to heavan.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video my initial reaction is to answer Ms. Obaid-Chinoy’s essential question that is: “If you grew up in these circumstances faced with these choices would you choose to live in this world or in the glorious afterlife.” I think for myself I would choose to live in the glorious afterlife because the thought of not only killing myself but killing myself to kill other people doesn’t sound to be anything I could ever do. These children choose to live in these circumstances where they undergo months of military training and are beaten. In my opinion, they don’t choose this because they truly want to harm other people they choose this because they don’t have any other choices. The children are given food and shelter and the families are sometimes given monthly siphons as well. As almost all of the children come from incredibly poor households, the promise that your child will be fed and clothed eases the minds of the parents struggling to do so. A boy in the documentary replies to the question “Would you participate in a suicide attack?” by saying, “If god gives me the strength to.” Another boy in the documentary replies to the question, “Would you like to carry out a suicide attack?” by saying, “I would love to only if I have permission from my father.” This is devastating to me that two innocent children have been trained to think, feel, and say these things. I agree with Ali when she says “It was scary and very sad to know all these young boys are being brainwashed and taken advantage of, and in the end killed.” This statement is completely true because essentially that is all that is happening; they are being taken advantage of and brain washed only to face their death.
ReplyDelete-Sydney Fisher
After watching this video, I was shocked that people could be so cruel to manipulate young children into doing something so harmful to themselves. I agree with my other classmates in saying that if I was in the situation that these children are in, I would take the opportunity for the "better" life. My family would be fed and in better health and life would be better. I think it is terrible how that Taliban targets large, poor families becase they are the most desperate for food and aid. As I listened to Ms. Obaid-Chinoy explain the five steps the Taliban took to convince these young children to become suicide bombers I thought, what human has the heart to be able convince confused, vulnerable children who have their entire life ahead of them that dying is better than living? The whole process is just wrong and I feel guilty knowing that this is going on in the world while I am living in a land of freedom. I liked Kaitlyns comparison to the Holocaust. The situations between the two groups of people can relate because of how the children are taken from the homes and sent to a place hundred of miles away where they are taught different values and lessons. I think it is dissapointing that other countries are letting this happen especially after the Holcaust. I think it is important that other countries are actively engaged in helping stop this propaganda. Who knows the next suicide bomber could have been the next Einstein as Peter said. This entire situation is horrible and should be publicized so that people are aware of this issue.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video it really makes you think how such young children are so committed to the idea of killing themselves and innocent civilians just because they are forced to believe it is the "right" thing to do. These kids are being taken advantage of because their families and living conditions at home are so poor that their families would rather have them living in a suicidal bombing school where they will eventually end up dead then living at their own home. These kids are forced to believe that "God wants them to do this and it will please him". And since their religion is based so much around God, kids would be willing to do this. But once the children get to these schools which are basically prisons. They only eat twice a day and are forced to study their religion for eight hours. The Taliban try to make the children's lives so miserable so they want to basically end their lives. They are beaten and treated unfairly. Yet what is the reward? A magically land with honey lakes and 72 virgins? Why waste a my life and innocent people for something that doesn't exist.
ReplyDelete- Molly Murphy
If you were a parent, struggling to feed your own family, and some authorative figure ask for your child. Naturally, you’d say no. But what if they promised to nourish his/her as their own, to give them a better life than you give them? That changes things. And if you were that young child? If you were not allowed access to the outside world, if you were beaten every day? If you were brought up thinking that suicide was "the way out" or the passage to paradise, wouldn’t you believe it? The Taliban is manipulating thousands of young children and their families with trickery for their own personal gain. They are using the innocent, brainwashed youth for suicide missions. Personally, I believe that suicide is the worst crime one can commit. So does most people, and that is why eliminating any contact to the outside world is one of the first steps taken in hypnotizing these children. That way the only opinions these kids know, are that of the Taliban. I agree with Rachel in that this is terrifing and scary. Especially that they have to turned to the manipulation of children to find suicide bombers.
ReplyDelete- Tess
This was a very interesting, but scary, video. I didn’t realize before that the Taliban were using innocent children to mount attacks against the “infidels”. The process that the Taliban use to brainwash these children is clearly very thought-out and deliberate. First, they take children from rural areas, whose families are poor and in need of help. If my family was living in such a destitute situation, I would definitely volunteer to leave if it would give me food and water, and the promise of money for my family. Even from the beginning, it is the boys’ choice to go to the “schools”; they aren’t forced. I agree with Ryleigh when she says that if the boys knew what they would be trained to do, or what their lives would be like, then they wouldn’t go. The Taliban use trickery and false hope to even get the children there. The second step was to teach the boys the Koran, but because it is in Arabic, which they cannot understand, the Taliban teachers are able to twist the meanings to however it will best suit their purposes. Third, they make the boys’ lives horrible. They beat them, make them read the Koran for eight hours straight, treat them as prisoners. They want the boys to believe that after they die, life will be better. In the forth step, the older members enforce this idea. They tell the boys how they will achieve paradise after they die, if they do this thing in order to please god. Lastly, they use propaganda videos showing civilians dying to spread the message that the western countries don’t care about them.
ReplyDeleteIt was scary to hear the children who had been through this talking about it. One kid was saying how when he saw younger children committing suicide, he was awed by their efforts. He said that he would love to commit suicide, so that one judgment day, he would be able to tell god he did it to please him, and would be welcomed into paradise. The Taliban are targeting very young, impressionable children. If they don’t know anything other than this, how can they avoid the Taliban’s manipulation? This brainwashing is terrible, and needs to be stopped.
First off I would like to mention on how inhumane and terrible it is to force kids like the ones mentioned to run into a crowd or gathering just to push a button and blow themselves up to cause harm to other people. It's strange to think that there are people that can manipulate kids to blow themselves up by essentially stripping them all that they know and reteaching them the Taliban way so that they can use them to detonate themselves in a crowd of people that may not agree with, and this is all because they were promised a better life if they just pushed the button. At the end of the video the women asks a question and then leaves, now the question asks is a very hard question to answer. Life in the middle east is not the greatest but what makes it better by killing yourself so you go to a place that is promised to be better than the one your in? There is nothing worse then killing yourself just because your life may not be all that great. Just because your life may not be great that does not mean you have to kill yourself. Now I'm sure by now many people are aware that the Taliban does this and they probably realize that it needs to be stopped but the one problem is that it probably wont be able to be stopped until the Taliban is wiped out. This is something that really needs to be stopped because it is a terrible act by killing yourself to cause harm to others.
ReplyDelete-Kevin D'Auteuil
After reading the article and most of the comments I would say that what is happening to these kids is just awful. Before I started reading I resented these people because I had assumed that they just did this to do it. What I found out is that is far from the truth. At a young age living in complete poverty and fighting everyday just to stay alive they are presented with a choice. A few men come along one day and promise you a better life filled with prosperity. The choice of staying where you currently are and leaving to go with these strange men is very easy. So in hopes of giving these kids a better life their parents allow them to leave. After arriving at their destination they are taught how to be a suicide bomber. They are taught who the enemy is and why they are doing this. After being brain washed comply and turned into a suicide bomber their training is complete. Now all that awaits them is their death by an explosion. For me its hard to imagine what I would do. I don't believe I would stay with my family in poverty. I would hope to say that I wouldn't be brain washed. Even if I realized what I was doing was wrong would I really have a choice? Now I know it's not these kids faults, that their the victims as much as the men who die in these bombings. - Jake Kittredge
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video, I was shocked to realize how quickly the children or young men were dying and just how young they were. Ms. Obaid-Chinoy asks the question of staying in that world or going onto your after life. I would probably move on to my after life.I could not imagine being restricted to only reading newspapers provided, and having to read the Koran, or yet alone learn how to use a machine gun at such a young age. One of the worst parts is that the Taliban targets large and poor families, promising them food and clothing. How could you be so awful to promise families a better life, and then just take their kids? One comment that Ms.Obaid-Chinoy makes is, " The parents are so poor that they have no money to get their child or children back." That is extremely sad, they know that their kid is suffering but yet they have no way to help. And the last thing they might hear is their death. I would not be able to live like this at all, and would definitely hope that my life would be better somewhere else.-Rachelle
ReplyDeleteThis video was extremely disturbing to watch. These children are being bribed and lured into a program where they are taught to kill themselves. This children are being told they will have food and shelter in exchange for killing themselves for the Taliban. As Jeff said it is the ultimate bribe. These kids are thinking they will have a better life with a place to live and food to eat only to kill themselves when they are told to. this is extremely destirbing.
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