Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging under the conviction of killing 148 Iraqi Shi'ites in 1982.
2 May 2011
Osama bin Laden is shot and killed inside a private residence by US Navy SEALs and CIA operatives.
20 October 2011
Muammar Gaddafi is captured by Libyan rebel forces, beaten and wounded severly and after being gunned down his body is put on public display for four days.
Did you know?
- Saddam Hussein never knew his father (he disappeared six months before Hussein was born) shortly after his fatgher's dissapearence Hussein's older brother died of cancer and Hussein was sent to live with his uncle for three years. After his mother re-married he came home only to be mistreated at the hands of his step father. At the age of 10 Hussein fled his home and went to live with his uncle once more.
- At university Osama bin Laden fostered a keen interest in religion, writing poetry, economics, charity work and reading. he supported Arsenal F.C. and played centre forward on a local team. He was described as Hard-working.
- In 1948, when he was only six years old, Muammar Gaddafi witnessed the death of his playmates and he sustained injury after an old mine left by the Italian Royal Army exploded on a patch of dirt where they were playing. His two playmates were also his cousins.
All three of these men had wives, parents, children and siblings. They all had beliefs and values, dreams, acheivments and failures. I haven't told you these things to justify their actions, the atrocities that they committed, but to humanise them to the world. Their murder may have been necessary for the saftey of others and to put an end to their tyranny but was it right? After each of their deaths, news coverage across the world showed video of people celebrating. Leaders across the world congratulated the country that 'brought justice', when Osama bin Laden died America held street parties! of course it's hard to blame them, America suffered to much at 9/11 and they have been a focal point for terrorism, likewise in Libya etc. But isnt it sad that an online analysis of bin Laden's death only showed 8% of people in the world believed it is wrong to celebrate death.
Almost double that amount of people in the world celebrated outright over the internet after bin Laden died. And for some it would have been a celebration especially the people who had lost family or friends to terrorism.
But a shocking 25% of internet users treated bin Laden's murder as a joke! To me this is worse than celebrating, many people would have been hurt so badly that I can hardly fault them for being happy but to treat death, any death, as a joke, to me is unaceptable.
It's pretty obvious what my opinion on murder and violence is but let me state it anyway:
I believe that violence should be avoided at all costs and that murder is wrong, however there are shades of grey, for example; a father killing someone who posed a serious threat to the wellbeing of his children or the murder of the three men above. While their death may have needed to happen I believe that it should still have been recognised as murder and that death should never be a cause for celebration or worse ridicule.
I started thinking about this issue of 'an eye for an eye' a few days ago when I realised that in the last week I had seen three different posts by different people asking "where so and so was" and "would anyone be willing to bash him up?" These people were dead serious and the reasons for wanting to cause harm to these offenders ranged from rape to a bad break-up. It actually scared me that people my own age (14-20) thought it was all right to go and casually beat someone up if they caused offence. To me, the idea of lowering myself to the standards of the offender is ridiculous and wrong...far better to report the incident because I full-heartedly believe (especially in the context of teens solving their problems) that 'violence is never the answer.'
No matter what they have done...these people are human, hurting them lowers us to their level, makes us what we despise and can potentially take away the sacred gift of life! They have wives, parents, children and siblings. they have beliefs and values, dreams, acheivments and failures.
What kind of message do we send to the world if we believe that violence is ok...as long as it happens to 'bad' people?
I agree that in terms of celebration, it is wrong to celebrate the death of another human being, however, to celebrate justice is, well, justified. I don't believe that anything that happened to these men or anyone else who has committed a similar atrocity can serve as justification of their actions. There are plenty of people who have had it hard from the death of parents and being forced to grow up in foster homes, to facing racism, sexism, religious persecution, or living their whole life in a war torn country constantly struggling to survive each day, yet these people do not involve themselves in the brutal mass murder of innocent men, women and children. I believe these people were punished for their actions and although I too was deeply affected when watching the video of Gaddafi being dragged beaten and bloodied in front of cameras before being shot like a dog, I still believe that the death sentence serves justice to the victims of the worlds worst people. (However, in saying that, I cannot admit to be in full support of the death penalty as I understand that there have been cases where they have gotten the wrong person.)
ReplyDeleteWhen you talk about the shades of grey, such as, a father killing to protect the wellbeing of his children, I wonder, are you saying that this is one of those times when it is okay? If so, my question is; do you not think that the death of these men has protected the wellbeing of many children possible even their own whom they may indeed influence to follow in their violent footsteps..?
I don't agree that 'violence is never the answer' but when I say this, it is regarding more minor conflicts such as bullying that cannot be ended with a 'talk with a teacher, counsellor, parent or even the perpetrator' and that is some cases what bullies really need is a quite literally a firm hand.
In regards to beliefs, values and even dreams, I believe that when those that are held by people who will oppose common morality in order to uphold these, do not deserve the sacred gift of life. My question to you would be; where do you think it stops? Is there a point at which you believe that to end the life of a person who has or will end the lives of many and therefore remove any chance for them to do so can be justified. My statement in this instance would be, 'The need of the many outways the need of the one'. In this instance; is one life destined for evil worth as much as many (or even one) lives destined for good?
Where would we be if Hitler's regime had not been ended with the lives of those involved being taken?
Where would we be without the Russian/French/Chinese Revolutions that led to the deaths of those people in positions of power who were happy to let their own people starve to death in the streets so they could live their comfortable, gluttonous lives?
Without those willing to take a stand for true morality, to protect the human rights of innocents, evil will not only remain but could very well prevail. I like to believe that 'good will always triumph over evil', however, I also believe that this cannot continue to be the case without action against the wrongdoings in our world.
I do belive that in some ways these mens deaths were necessary yes, to prevent the deaths of thousands of others and so i would agree that soemtimes the 'need of the mnay sometimes outweighs the need of the one'. however i also belive it would ahve been a better optian to once these men were captured, lock them up in prison for the rest of their lives. obviously i don't know the ins and outs of how that would be possible but that's what i would have liked to seen. Same in the instance of the French and Russian revaloutian. to me cutting of their heads etc seems immoral and more than a little excessive. if a father kills in protection of his children i would say yes it is wrong as such because he has killed but i also belive that a parents love is absolute and it would be hard to charge him if there was honest danger to his kids lives. as for some poeple not deserving the sacred gift of life, i would say that through my christian beliefs i belive that no-one belives the scared gift of life and it is wrong to take it because only god should judge.
ReplyDeleteThere's a reason we have the International Criminal Court, & all three of these former leaders should have been caught and presented there. I always like to look as things in reverse, so imagine if a foreign military came in the middle of the night & captured & killed Julia Gillard then dropped her body into the ocean. How would we feel about that? Or even if a foreign military had have come & captured Carl Williams, or another criminal?
ReplyDeleteIf these men had done something wrong (which they almost certainly had) then they should have been detained & taken to court. That's justice. Revenge is not justice.
The US army do not have the right to infiltrate any country they want & kill whoever they want. Imagine if China or Russia did this to a US citizen, even if they were a murderer? The US would be enraged.
We too should be enraged that US military & politicians think they can do whatever they want, wherever they want.