The Taliban"s usage of child suicide bombers in this video cannot be excused by any moral relativism

>The act of strapping a bomb on a child's body to go kill others is a mentally sick idea. I object to your use of the term 'mentally sick.' According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, "[a] mental illness is a medical condition that disrupts a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life." These mens' lives are not compromised by an inability to relate to others, nor are they unable to function within their daily lives. In fact, they are extremely capable in persuading others into joining their efforts. They know exactly what they are doing, and that's simply the way the world works for them. Is it different in comparison to what America would do if we were in their shoes in this day and age? Absolutely. But that doesn't enable us to pass judgement on them. >The mindset of a child is to try and fit in, if everyone is doing suicide bombings, shouldn't you be doing it too? But who's to say the child himself does it simply to fulfill either his peers' or his elders' desires? Who makes that call? It's easy to assume the child might be pressured into this, but it's entirely glossing over what the child desires himself. There might be a kid over there who honestly wants to protect his country, and that mindset is cultivated further when his teachers encourage that idea. They claim to be able to provide him the means to serve his God, and he believes it. To that child, the teachers weren't lying. >It is immoral to harm someone else for your own good. However this happens everyday in America. Crime and gun violence are on the rise within the country, not to mention the white-collar crime that is far less publicized but by no means less damaging. We commit immoral acts upon each other everyday, but we're very quick to judge a society and tear them down rather than take a critical look at ourselves. >People were writing their god's name on toilet paper And that's honestly upsetting to their culture. They highly cherish Mohammed and Allah, and to write their names either on a dirty bathroom stall or on tissue paper that people use to wipe their excrement is understandably taboo to them. That's the equivalent of taking a beloved relative's or celebrity's photo and using it in the same fashion as toilet paper. >One of the heads of the Taliban said when he was asked about his views on teen suicide bombings, "When I look up there's a tiger sitting, when I look down there is a river flowing." In other words, he wants to keep his feelings a secret. We know deep down that he knows it is wrong, but is trying to save face. I disagree with you there. Far from keeping his feelings secret, he acknowledges that it's an extremely difficult choice to make but that they are willing to make it all the same. The saying is the equivalent to "Between a rock and a hard place" and "Between the devil and the deep blue sea." What he wants to demonstrate by this is that he and his people are willing to make incredibly difficult choices as long as the Americans are within their country, and if suicide bombings are a result then so be it. >If they believe so fondly in it, and want to make it to "paradise," why don't they just do the bombings themselves? The only thing I can think of to respond to that is drawing a parallel between them and any general or leader in the United States. They hold the power to command and lead others, and have the experience and the know-how on which ways to proceed in the war effort. They will always look for those who will be able to carry out their ideas while they stay behind and continue to make plans that will stump the enemy.