Why becoming a terrorist is a bad idea

Becoming a terrorist is a bad idea. If you are considering how great it would be or how thrilling it would be to kill other people for any religious cause, please read on.

Becoming a terrorist is a bad idea because it is a lose, lose, lose proposition. That is to say, if you kill someone else, they lose. As a terrorist, many people are determined to kill you. There is a very high probability that sooner or later, they will kill you. So you lose too. Even if you are not killed, you will be on the run and will never be able to relax and enjoy life, so you still lose. The losses go far beyond these obvious things.

Of comfort to the terrorist or would-be terrorist, is the idea that dying a martyr is somehow a positive thing. It’s not. You would be dead. There aren’t any virgins in heaven waiting for you, and you won’t be skipping in the clouds. There is absolutely NO evidence that any of these life-after-death claims have any merit. Plain and simple, martyrdom is stupid. When you are dead, you cannot eat, sleep, or have sex. You can’t have an interesting conversation or meet a new person. You can’t hold your child or eat dinner with your wife. When you are dead, all of that is over forever. Martyrs are soon forgotten.

People who care about you would experience a tremendous loss without you. Your ideas and wisdom would be lost. Your potential for wisdom in your later years would be cut short. My experience  has shown that true wisdom is found in people who have at least several decades of life experience behind them. Have you noticed that men in their 50s are not so inclined to kill themselves in jihad?

Please look critically at people who might like for YOU to go kill others and possibly yourself. Notice that the leaders do not strap on the suicide belt themselves. It’s OK for YOU to blow yourself up, but they are much too important to the cause for that. In other words, YOU are not that important. They are playing you for the patsy; the sucker. Think about it, seriously.

Before you conclude that the answer is to be a better terrorist and not get killed in the process, just take a look at the people living in the areas claimed by terrorists. Everyone is living and many are dying in a horrible situation. This is not living. This is losing.

Let’s imagine for a moment that the terrorist cause is incredibly successful. People convert to the terrorist’s way due to fear. Trust me when I tell you that the rest of the world will not allow this to continue. History has shown that horrible atrocities are eventually stopped. Everything that is gained by terrorism will be lost. Losses would be huge all around. This whole thing is a lose, lose, lose proposition.

People have been killing one another in the name of religion for thousands of years. All of these deaths are a waste. All are a loss. It’s time for all of us to take a critical look at religion by stepping back from it and asking questions about the validity of every single claim and teaching. If there is an absence of evidence for, or evidence present refuting a claim or teaching, then such claims and teachings must be rejected.

Critical thinking is the answer. Incorporating critical thinking in ourselves is a win.  Do not blindly follow any book or another person. Becoming a terrorist is dependent on one’s naivety, on one’s youth, on one’s false sense of invincibility, on one’s elevated levels of testosterone, and most especially on one’s willingness to conform and follow. YOU are better than that.