Hurray for murder?
I watched The View yesterday while I was on the treadmill and they talked about the murder of al-Zarqawi. As soon as Meredith Vieira announced that he had been killed, the crowd erupted in applause and audible hoops and hollers. Is this the right reaction to someone's death?
My knee-jerk reaction was to laugh under my breath and yell "No" at the TV. The crowd kept clapping. It makes me a bit ill to cheer someone's death, no matter how evil the person happened to be. I understand that knocking off key targets is part of the strategy in the war on terror, and I understand that al-Zarqawi's actions were often evil. But have we solved a problem by killing him? Isn't it reasonable to assume that lopping off the head of the beast will cause many more heads to appear? I have trouble understanding why never-ending violence is a good solution.
I'm sure the phrase "God Bless America" was uttered at some point after al-Zarqawi's death. I think this is taking the Lord's name in vain. Attaching God's name to a cause we that we have determined to be worthy is just plain wrong. Does God want terrorism to end? The God I know is a God of peace and love, so I assume the answer would be yes. Would Jesus have killed al-Zarqawi? I can't imagine the circumstance. Last time I checked, the order not to kill was one of the ten commandments. It doesn't say, "Thou shalt not kill...unless you have a really good reason." Murder continues to be justified. At the same time, love is regularly denied. The war on terror justifies murder, and the war on "all things gay" disregards love. Don't we have it all wrong?
I'll continue to try to understand. I know something has to be done about terrorism, so perhaps I'm not as turned off by the U.S. strategy as I am our reaction to it. It has become a game. The cheers that I heard from The View's audience yesterday were the same cheers I heard last night during the Mavericks' game. Perhaps what we need is a "war referee" that calls fouls and awards free throws to the side that most often gets the shaft. At the very least, I think we could all use a time out.
My knee-jerk reaction was to laugh under my breath and yell "No" at the TV. The crowd kept clapping. It makes me a bit ill to cheer someone's death, no matter how evil the person happened to be. I understand that knocking off key targets is part of the strategy in the war on terror, and I understand that al-Zarqawi's actions were often evil. But have we solved a problem by killing him? Isn't it reasonable to assume that lopping off the head of the beast will cause many more heads to appear? I have trouble understanding why never-ending violence is a good solution.
I'm sure the phrase "God Bless America" was uttered at some point after al-Zarqawi's death. I think this is taking the Lord's name in vain. Attaching God's name to a cause we that we have determined to be worthy is just plain wrong. Does God want terrorism to end? The God I know is a God of peace and love, so I assume the answer would be yes. Would Jesus have killed al-Zarqawi? I can't imagine the circumstance. Last time I checked, the order not to kill was one of the ten commandments. It doesn't say, "Thou shalt not kill...unless you have a really good reason." Murder continues to be justified. At the same time, love is regularly denied. The war on terror justifies murder, and the war on "all things gay" disregards love. Don't we have it all wrong?
I'll continue to try to understand. I know something has to be done about terrorism, so perhaps I'm not as turned off by the U.S. strategy as I am our reaction to it. It has become a game. The cheers that I heard from The View's audience yesterday were the same cheers I heard last night during the Mavericks' game. Perhaps what we need is a "war referee" that calls fouls and awards free throws to the side that most often gets the shaft. At the very least, I think we could all use a time out.
posted by Jen Austin at 10:06 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home