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?
