oaknet wrote:
] But what makes you think that these people do not have good at
] the very base of their being?

[ I don't think your analogy quite fits in this case. Those responsible here *did* behead someone, if the reports are true, and certainly we have evidence that those who killed Mr. Berg *did* behead him. Those people, by which i don't imply a race or ethinicity or nationality, but the guys who stood there, or wielded the knife, do not have good at the base of their being. Sorry, i don't believe you can behead a man, particularly a civilian, and still claim you're generally a good guy. War is one thing, and it's bad enough... selecting a target as an icon, as a symbol, and not based on their specific actions against you is *especially* wrong.

Now, the trap you portray is real, by which i mean taking a specific act, or a particular viewpoint of one, and applying it over broadly to a large class of people. I still argue that scalping a man alive isn't a real "good" thing to do, as much as I identify with the rage and consuming resentment felt by dispossessed native americans. Obviously the broad application of "savage" was wrong... if anything the europeans were far more savage in their exploitation and presupposed superiority. Obviously, we have a history of insensitivity to alternative ways of being. But I'll continue to be insensitive, if that's the word, to any person who thinks beheading or scalping or disappearing arbitrary people is an acceptible behavior.

We want to avoid misapplying our outrage to people who have nothing directly to do with it. This is something that is historically common, of course, ignorance breeding broad hate. That's not what the parent was indicating though, i'm sure. Those individuals may have been acting to further a good cause, which i won't comment on, but the act itself was not good, and they themselves can't claim to be so, regardless of their supposed intentions. As I heard once in a song, "You can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding." -k]

RE: CNN.com - Report: U.S. hostage beheaded - Jun 18, 2004