Today Osama Bin Laden was exposed as a hypocrite as it emerged he used to order in bulk quantities of Coke and Pepsi. Two Pakistanis helped Osama buy in orders of Coca-Cola and Pepsi from a local shop.

The two brands are some of the strongest symbols of American power and influence. They are synonymous with Western Capitalism. It is simply incredible that bin Laden would buy and therefore fund the very thing he supposedly hated.

In a bizarre way you might suggest that bin laden helped fund his own death. By buying Coke and Pepsi whom then paid taxes to the US government.

In my mind it only goes to show the truth about terrorists. Many terrorists would have you believe they are fighting what they believe is a just cause. We sometimes think about them as being ‘brain washed’ or ‘misguided’.

The truth is that behind every terrorist’s actions is a selfish objective. Yes even suicide bombers are fundamentally selfish. How so? Terrorists become terrorists to give their own lives meaning. In our increasingly interconnected and vast world the individual has felt increasingly disempowered. Many ordinary unexceptional people are finding themselves without meaning. Terrorism and a perceived injustice gives them a cause and a meaning for their existence.

Religion or brain washing don’t create terrorists from nothing. They definitely encourage it and foster it but they do not create it. Individuals who are lost and looking for meaning find such causes. Once they find a cause they throw themselves into it completely, encouraging their own deception. (Interestingly this is not a dissimilar path to many conspiracy theorists)

Ultimately bin Laden didn’t even truly believe in his own terrible cause as the buying of coke shows. His actions were fundamentally selfish as he sought to give his own life meaning.