"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy"
- Jessica Dovey.
"Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that"
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Been meaning to vent my spleen on this issue since they shot him. OBL, that is, not MLK.
Like lots of people, I will admit to feelings of glee when the news broke. We've all been hoping he would be found for years of course, that goes without saying. However, as details emerged - the "Capture or Kill" mission and the fact that he was unarmed when they shot him, doubts emerged that the event had been handled in a manner befitting the world's foremost democracy. Then I noticed people were posting the MLK quote, and that, alongside the Americans' unreservedly bullish reaction, prompted me to wade in with my six penn'worth.
It's an old hobbyhorse of mine, this confusion of justice and revenge that seems to happen over the pond. Americans will be calling this "justice" for years to come, but in my book this is as far from justice as chalk is from cheese. Without recourse to dictionaries, or even wikipedia, here's my understanding of their relative meanings; justice is a human construct, a necessary part of a functioning society. It protects the majority from the excesses of society's failures. Those who are deemed to have broken its rules, after having a chance to prove otherwise, are dealt with in a way which prevents a recurrence. Revenge is a much more human phenomenon, based on an emotional response to perceived wrongdoing. It can be misplaced, based on false information or even propaganda, and is altogether damaging to a functioning society. Always. There is no place for revenge in any system of justice, since its primary effect is to reduce its perpetrator to the same moral level as is victim. Public executions anyone?
Just realised, the previous paragraph contains a horrendous generalisation. I should say "Some Americans". Indeed, the very quote that relates nicely to this situation is from Martin Luther King, obviously an American. Mind you, they shot him....
To paraphrase Monty Python, a lot of my friends are Americans, and only a few of them are immature. In other words, if you're reading this and you're American, I don't necessarily mean you. Can a whole country be deemed to act in an immature manner? I think so. I'm sure President Obama is himself a mature individual, but he's in no position to act naturally is he? Should he do what I consider the right thing, and blurt out "Hang on we're behaving like hormonal teenagers", he'd last about ten seconds before being rugby tackled and clapped in irons. That would be justice, of course, and speaks volumes about the size of the task before a president with an agenda of change. Good luck to him.
For the record, my alternative to the way the US Special forces acted goes like this: arrest him on suspicion of encouraging terrorism, put him on trial, convict him and incarcerate him for life. I like to think that's what a British operation would have done. We could not then be accused of making complete arses of ourselves on the world stage, as I believe the Americams have once again. Maybe I'm wrong and their actions have the approval of most people in this country, in which case we're all doomed.
Laters.
- Jessica Dovey.
"Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that"
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Been meaning to vent my spleen on this issue since they shot him. OBL, that is, not MLK.
Like lots of people, I will admit to feelings of glee when the news broke. We've all been hoping he would be found for years of course, that goes without saying. However, as details emerged - the "Capture or Kill" mission and the fact that he was unarmed when they shot him, doubts emerged that the event had been handled in a manner befitting the world's foremost democracy. Then I noticed people were posting the MLK quote, and that, alongside the Americans' unreservedly bullish reaction, prompted me to wade in with my six penn'worth.
It's an old hobbyhorse of mine, this confusion of justice and revenge that seems to happen over the pond. Americans will be calling this "justice" for years to come, but in my book this is as far from justice as chalk is from cheese. Without recourse to dictionaries, or even wikipedia, here's my understanding of their relative meanings; justice is a human construct, a necessary part of a functioning society. It protects the majority from the excesses of society's failures. Those who are deemed to have broken its rules, after having a chance to prove otherwise, are dealt with in a way which prevents a recurrence. Revenge is a much more human phenomenon, based on an emotional response to perceived wrongdoing. It can be misplaced, based on false information or even propaganda, and is altogether damaging to a functioning society. Always. There is no place for revenge in any system of justice, since its primary effect is to reduce its perpetrator to the same moral level as is victim. Public executions anyone?
Just realised, the previous paragraph contains a horrendous generalisation. I should say "Some Americans". Indeed, the very quote that relates nicely to this situation is from Martin Luther King, obviously an American. Mind you, they shot him....
To paraphrase Monty Python, a lot of my friends are Americans, and only a few of them are immature. In other words, if you're reading this and you're American, I don't necessarily mean you. Can a whole country be deemed to act in an immature manner? I think so. I'm sure President Obama is himself a mature individual, but he's in no position to act naturally is he? Should he do what I consider the right thing, and blurt out "Hang on we're behaving like hormonal teenagers", he'd last about ten seconds before being rugby tackled and clapped in irons. That would be justice, of course, and speaks volumes about the size of the task before a president with an agenda of change. Good luck to him.
For the record, my alternative to the way the US Special forces acted goes like this: arrest him on suspicion of encouraging terrorism, put him on trial, convict him and incarcerate him for life. I like to think that's what a British operation would have done. We could not then be accused of making complete arses of ourselves on the world stage, as I believe the Americams have once again. Maybe I'm wrong and their actions have the approval of most people in this country, in which case we're all doomed.
Laters.
i totally agree, just doesn't seem right really. neither do the scenes of jubilation broadcast on the tv, things are never simple, he was still someones brother, son, husband, father
ReplyDeletewhy does shit have to happen in the world?
Counterpoint - (Jane, you ignorant slut...circa SNL 1980's ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe quote you used is not entirely MLK's but an unintentional Facebook Cocktail:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/05/anatomy-of-a-fake-quotation/238257/
It went viral because most people in general feel that the current celebratory climate (not unlike what happened in certain parts of the world when the towers came down) is not representative about how we really feel.
Understand that this is just a face to a much bigger and complicated feeling of relief. Most of us are frustrated and confounded by the fact that we are "at war" for oil thinly veiled in terrorist justifications (precisely why perhaps our foe was not found in a cave eh?). Don't get me wrong...I am actually glad he is dead but I honestly wished he had simply slipped on a loose rock on the way back to the cave from the loo. Karma would have prevailed, no one would have had to worry about whether the burial was a decent one, the wild animals would have had a nice meal, and the "tit for tat" game would be closed. If only life were this simple ;-)
Interesting about the quote. I saw a good quote about quotes on Stephen Fry's twitter the other day - "The trouble with quotes on the internet is you can never tell if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln.
ReplyDeleteThanks for input from a mature American. Sorry, that didn't come out right, what I meant was... oh, shut up Russell.
..and I've fixed the quote(s). Thanks again.
ReplyDelete