Worlds Apart : Empathy Vs Hatred
"She had a wonderful sense of mischievous fun and was generous to the point of always wanting to see the best in all people."
"She was intent on living life to the full and had a wonderful thirst for knowledge."
Family of Saskia Jones, 23, Cambridge graduate
"[He was a man who] lived his principles."
"He believed in redemption and rehabilitation,l not revenge, and he always took the side of the underdog."
Family of Jack Merritt, 25, Cambridge graduate
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| Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones were both involved with the Learning Together programme, which was holding an event when the attack took place Met Police |
Two idealists who believed that goodness prevailed, one had only to give those whose social deviance and bitter hatreds and violence marked them for punishment -- by society where justice prevails to ensure peace, safety and security for its citizens -- due sympathetic consideration for a 'second chance' through opportunities of rehabilitation. They decided to devote themselves, both philosophy students who graduated their elite courses strengthening a personal resolve to guide malefactors toward a place within society once their sentence was served, where they could live a normal life.
Giving offenders another chance to redeem their lives. Exposing them to a re-education opportunity that would not blame them for their previous choices, but which was meant to gently guide them to the light of personal responsibility and acceptance of differences in the world, that need not invoke in them the rage of vituperative violence in support of an ideology of hatred and murder. And such a trusting enterprise does have its appeal. Mostly to those incapable of fully ingesting that human beings could find satisfaction in a release of hatred with intent to harm others.
Who might have imagined in the darkest of thoughts that the very twisted minds that they sought to straighten out and welcome back to the bosom of a trusting society would plan instead to target the very two young idealists whose sincerity could not be doubted, that their caring expressions of acceptance and guidance would guide a man whom Britain's justice system permitted to serve a fraction of a sentence for terrorism would prefer to take their lives than surrender his to their ideals.
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Central London seems to attract Islamist jihadists. A lively, busy scene where the presence of many busy, distracted people could always be expected, and where maximum damage could accrue should plans be carried out with precision and determination. One wonders, did the bright lights at Cambridge confer with the Norwegian authorities on the success rate of their rehabilitation program for mass murderers?
Ms.Jones volunteered with the Cambridge project, Learning Together, prepared to put her master's degree in philosophy to good use. She also aspired to a recruitment program for police as a victim support specialist. A warm, determined and dedicated young woman, described by friends as such, devoted to the idea that prison inmates should not be deprived of opportunities to reform and in so doing build a personal foundation for a productive life. Placing her thoughts and her values in the minds of those who had no such thoughts and values.
Mr. Merritt, a program coordinator with the program worked with Learning Together, bringing to it his own Cambridge master's of philosophy. Had they lived to reconsider would they have? The man who killed them both, Usman Khan, 28, member of a terrorist group with al-Qaeda affiliation was given a 16-year sentence for his part in planning to plant explosives in the London Stock Exchange. On early release after serving eight years, his allegiance switched from al-Qaeda to Islamic State, so he did make choices, but not to reverse his own ideals in the imperative of jihad.
At his trial, the presiding judge had warned that this Islamist terrorist, Pakistan-born living in Britain, still could pose a threat of violence to the public. And how right was that perception. The attack he indulged in that killed the two believers in the essential goodness residing in all people, that only had to be teased out, and injuring three other bystanders caused great consternation and mourning in London, and a sense of celebratory fulfillment among those Islamists whose hatred of the West is a monument of raging civilizational dysfunction.
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| The family of London Bridge attacker Usman Khan have said they are "saddened and shocked" by what happened and "totally condemn his actions". AFP |
Labels: Controversy, Islamist Attack, Justice, London, Terrorism
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, December 04, 2019
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