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I believe that's Plato's. I'll verify later, okay? :) Justice is very important to me--maybe it's because I'm a Libra, who knows. But it's a very central concept to my worldview, and is reflected in a lot of ways in my person and my life. Heck, a good number of my favorite movies surround the notion. I mention this as prologue to a point I've been thinking about since Tuesday's monumental events, and finally--hopefully--can figure out words with which to wrap it.
Upon the attack, obviously a lot of emotions ran very high, and we're hardly far enough down the road for that to have much subsided. I can understand this, of course, as I understood immediately that this attack was orders of magnitude worse, in severity and complexity, than the strike on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. People were crying for blood then, 60 years ago, as they are crying for blood now.
Cooler heads put forward the proposition, then and now, that to respond in kind, by the use of force, simply brings us down to the level of those who attacked us. Cooler heads put forward the proposition that vengeance and retribution are concepts as barbaric as the attacks leveled against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and very nearly (as reports would have it) the White House itself. With these points, I agree, one of my curses being the ability to see many sides to every story. But still I feel retaliation is necessary, and I'll tell you why.
First of all, understand that I'm not suggesting that we murder peaceful and rational civilians, as was done here, but rather that we track down and execute each and every terrorist and fanatic involved, in any way, in this or any other attack resulting in the loss of innocent life here or anywhere in the world. That goes from the suicide pilots of Tuesday, to the triggermen and bombers of the past and present, and even to the people who rejoice in the slaughter of innocents, as they are the protectors and nurturers of those who perpetrate the violence, and the next in line to pick up the guns. These are people who seem to be capable only of understanding the elocution of the gun and the grandiloquence of TNT. These are not people who are much moved by economic sanction, by political rebuke, by anything that is the forte of what we like to think of as modern civilization. As thousands of Americans burned or fell or were crushed to death, thousands more injured, millions more watching on in horror, these people distributed candy in the streets and jubilated to the accompaniment of their automatic rifles. These people have had over 50 years to come to some sort of peace with each other in the small region of the world they all must call home, and have never even come close. Of course, it can be argued that peace has eluded them because they have, for over 50 years, been caught up in an endless cycle of strike and counterstrike, retaliation upon retribution--a cycle we are currently in grave danger of falling into. But I submit that the Attack On America (to borrow the nauseatingly omnipresent news-tv caption) must be answered. It must be answered because nothing else is likely to be understood. It must be answered because to do otherwise would be taken by the Middle East, if not the rest of the world, as an indication that we are an easy target who does not bite back when cornered and wounded. It invites reoccurrence, even escalation. Unimaginable but true.
But to hell with all of the above--the principle reason I advocate pursuit and punishment is the same reason I remain in favor of capital punishment in general. The people responsible have, by their actions, lost their Planet Earth privileges; and simultaneously bestowed upon us the right to insure beyond doubt that they will never again perpetrate any such action. And that is, I think, just enough justice to matter.
Upon the attack, obviously a lot of emotions ran very high, and we're hardly far enough down the road for that to have much subsided. I can understand this, of course, as I understood immediately that this attack was orders of magnitude worse, in severity and complexity, than the strike on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. People were crying for blood then, 60 years ago, as they are crying for blood now.
Cooler heads put forward the proposition, then and now, that to respond in kind, by the use of force, simply brings us down to the level of those who attacked us. Cooler heads put forward the proposition that vengeance and retribution are concepts as barbaric as the attacks leveled against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and very nearly (as reports would have it) the White House itself. With these points, I agree, one of my curses being the ability to see many sides to every story. But still I feel retaliation is necessary, and I'll tell you why.
First of all, understand that I'm not suggesting that we murder peaceful and rational civilians, as was done here, but rather that we track down and execute each and every terrorist and fanatic involved, in any way, in this or any other attack resulting in the loss of innocent life here or anywhere in the world. That goes from the suicide pilots of Tuesday, to the triggermen and bombers of the past and present, and even to the people who rejoice in the slaughter of innocents, as they are the protectors and nurturers of those who perpetrate the violence, and the next in line to pick up the guns. These are people who seem to be capable only of understanding the elocution of the gun and the grandiloquence of TNT. These are not people who are much moved by economic sanction, by political rebuke, by anything that is the forte of what we like to think of as modern civilization. As thousands of Americans burned or fell or were crushed to death, thousands more injured, millions more watching on in horror, these people distributed candy in the streets and jubilated to the accompaniment of their automatic rifles. These people have had over 50 years to come to some sort of peace with each other in the small region of the world they all must call home, and have never even come close. Of course, it can be argued that peace has eluded them because they have, for over 50 years, been caught up in an endless cycle of strike and counterstrike, retaliation upon retribution--a cycle we are currently in grave danger of falling into. But I submit that the Attack On America (to borrow the nauseatingly omnipresent news-tv caption) must be answered. It must be answered because nothing else is likely to be understood. It must be answered because to do otherwise would be taken by the Middle East, if not the rest of the world, as an indication that we are an easy target who does not bite back when cornered and wounded. It invites reoccurrence, even escalation. Unimaginable but true.
But to hell with all of the above--the principle reason I advocate pursuit and punishment is the same reason I remain in favor of capital punishment in general. The people responsible have, by their actions, lost their Planet Earth privileges; and simultaneously bestowed upon us the right to insure beyond doubt that they will never again perpetrate any such action. And that is, I think, just enough justice to matter.
