Cultural Moral Values
So how to explain a tradition and a culture, leavened by a religion purporting to be one essentially of peace, that succeeds in producing one crop after another of human beings so divested of humanitarian concerns, so oblivious to the need for human beings to bring compassion and understanding and acceptance to their interaction with others, that they present universally as unredeemable psychopaths.Every society in every corner of the world, regardless of ethnicity, ideology, religion, has its sociopaths, those within society incapable of relating to others, disinterested in engaging with others, hostile to normal human communion. But it appears to be outstandingly symbolic of Islam that it has produced more than its share of enemies of humankind. Evil misanthropes whose purpose appears vested in a personal dedication to bloody vengeance.
Against the infidel, any who do not, or will not recognize the superiority and sublime presence of Islam as a universal code for human direction. Ah, the Koran prescribes in various ways the manner in which such unbelievers can and should be confronted - and conquered. But these prescriptions were written in an entirely other era of human development and political landscape.
It is the rigidly fundamental nature of Islamists that they adhere to the original meanings and teachings of the Koran, interpreting and taking it upon themselves to do their duty as Allah's jihadist army to spread word of the imperative to submit to the indoctrination of the faithful. Or perish. But Jews and Christians and Hindus and Buddhists need not feel singled out for punishment.
For these Islamist terrorists evince no pity, no comradeship in theological and social recognition of fellow Muslims either. Muslims themselves, of modest religious adherence represent fair game as unwilling sacrifices to these ardent Islamists geared to perform their god's will. And there are also the irritating complexities of sectarian representations; more fodder for bloody sacrifice.
Contrast that with a story of mortal virtue and humanitarian impulse from a purely Western, Christian source in the Judeo-Christian tradition of seeing humanity even in one's enemy. In practising the compassion of forgiveness, even though, deeply felt, is the apprehension that by pursuing forgiveness one cements one's own fate.
The author of the book Lone Survivor, published in 2007 by a former U.S. Navy SEAL, provides a lesson in contrasts. Marcus Luttrell, along with three other SEAL members were to comprise a team whose purpose it was to establish a temporary base in the Hindu Kush to assassinate a specific Taliban leader.
Misfortune dogged their purpose. A group of goatherds happened to stumble across their position. The Americans interrogated the goatherds, one of whom was a boy, and the responses they received, at gunpoint were "no Taliban, no Taliban". The four conferred among themselves whether to take the course of killing the three and thus ensuring their presence would not be betrayed, or letting them depart.
One of the SEAL team realistically assessed the situation and opted to kill the three goatherds then and there. Two others weren't certain how they should respond, and they left the ultimate decision to the fourth, Marcus Luttrell himself.
He looked at the three, and considered: "In my soul, I knew Axelson [the first responder] was right. But my trouble is, I have another soul. My Christian soul. and it was crowding in on me. Something kept whispering in the back of my mind, it would be wrong."
So they signalled to the goatherds to depart, which they did, stony-faced, expressing nothing betraying no course of action. But of course, just as the SEALS felt intuitively they would, they revealed to the Taliban the presence of the Americans.
The result was that the very Taliban leader whom they planned to assassinate, assembled a force of 150 Taliban and descended upon the SEAL team. A rescue backup team arrived by helicopter, and it received a hit from a rocket-propelled grenade. All 16 SEALS aboard were killed.
Marcus Luttrell himself somehow escaped during the ensuing gunfight. Painfully making his way through the Afghan landscape, dehydrated and anguished. He and the other three SEALS were perfectly aware that they ran the very real risk of facing just exactly what did occur.
But they simply could not bring themselves to take the lives of three innocent and unarmed people.
They paid dearly for their humanity.
Labels: Heroes and Villains, Terrorism, That's Life
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, February 05, 2008
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