Here's another one for you md55. Please consider this AP story in light of md55's suggestion that "the misunderstanding comes from passing moral judgment on the actions behind what was seen."
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - A videotape shows British hostage Kenneth Bigley being beheaded by his captors in Iraq, a witness who saw the tape said Friday.
The witness, who asked not to be identified by name, said the tape shows six hooded, armed men standing behind the kneeling Bigley, whom the witness recognized from two previous tapes released by the kidnappers.
One of the six then spoke in Arabic for about a minute. Afterward, the speaker took a knife from his belt and severed Bigley's head as three others held him down, the witness said. The tape ends with the killer holding up the severed head.
British officials in Baghdad said they had no confirmation that Bigley was dead, and American military authorities said no body had been found.
Bigley, 62, was abducted along with two Americans from their home in the upscale Mansour neighborhood by members of Tawhid and Jihad, Iraq's most feared terrorist group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who demanded the release of all female prisoners held by the coalition in Iraq.
The two Americans — Eugene Armstrong, 52, and Jack Hensley, 48 — were decapitated a few days later.
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So, md55 asks us to suspend our "value judgments" and asks us to see "things from the other perspectives than your own." So turn off your cultural and moral "filters," just kick back and enjoy the video of these IslamoFascist Butchers (oops, filter must've kicked in) cut the head off of this hapless HUMAN BEING, this innocent, screaming, terrified, man whose mother appealed for mercy, this Mr. Bigley who felt the knife sever his head from his body, felt the agony, the dread as his most precious life was taken, the agony of trying to breathe after the trachea is severed, the realization that "this is how I die, murdered by the cheering faithful."
I mean really, md55 is right. Road Runner cartoons and their gratuitous violence, the Playboy Channel and its depraved sexuality are not only just as bad as the depiction of some IslamoFascist sawing the head off a screaming Mr. Bigley, but it could be argued that we made them do it, that these poor IslamoFascists were merely reacting to the insult and assault against their culture posed by our depraved entertainment media.
The problem with md55's request that we "turn off our cultural filters" is that what he is really saying is that in order to "understand," we must first set aside our morality and values, after all, who is to say one set of values or one culture's morality is superior to that of another?
I say, hold your values tight, recognize that the war which is being fought against us is a war against our values and morality. The list of murders is too long to recount, however, just think of 9/11, and the thousands reduced to ash and dust who had been going about their business in the beautiful twin towers on that dread day. That attack was an act of war, not the first, but certainly the one which roused the pride and sense of victory of IslamoFascists all over the world. So, now we struggle to formulate a policy and war fighting doctrine against a culture which makes war on us. What is the nature of the struggle? It is a struggle based on our sense of morality, our strong desire not to cause injury to innocent people. Distinguish this sensitivity, my friends, distinguish it from the mentality which views all Christians, all Americans, all Jews, men, women, children, as enemies and proper targets. Consider Beslan, consider Ma'alot, consider the Palestinian parents who urge their children to blow themselves up if they can also take some Jews with them, and thereby buy their folks a new house, get them a Saudi check in the amount of a lifetime of wages. Yes, friends, this is a war of values, and if you are asked to set your values aside in order to understand, recognize that you are being asked to set aside the one frame of reference which can provide you with understanding.
Last edited by 2x6spds; 10/08/04 06:16 PM.
