Scattered Thoughts on Uncivilized Humanity
Daniel Pearl, James Foley and Steven Sotloff have a few things in common. They're all men, Americans, journalists, and were all murdered by beheading at the hands of Islamic nutjobs. Their murders were videotaped and distributed as evidence of their murderers meaning business. The west should take them seriously.
These men were bold journalists, working in dangerous places for in a business that's vital in insuring democratic ideals are maintained in the civilized world. I have a love-hate relationship with the media. Journalism is a noble cause when truthseeking is the goal but I'm afraid journalism's branch of truth and justice has been surpassed by our insatiable hunger for sensational content and the fact news has become a propaganda machine. Most media is garbage.
Few events have fed the sensational propaganda machine like the executions of western journalists. We truly feel we're better than them, and we are, but it's not as black and white as it feels in our hearts and minds.
Men like Pearl, Foley and Sotloff were journalists in the true sense, risking their lives in sketchy states to bring us facts, untainted truth from the front lines in a land that is both the cradle of civilization and a stark example of how far humanity has to go. No one in their right mind would travel to Syria these days, unless they were on a mission.
I'm atheist. I cannot even pretend there's a god. As years pass I feel my unapologetic rejection of religion is justified. Every act of violence or intolerance in the name of god is further proof religion is a cancer on humanity. The belief a man should be executed over his personal religious beliefs is both familiar and foriegn. Persecution is part of white European history. We've drawn and quartered, burned at the steak, drowned and beheaded heretics on multiple continents. Is our history inconsequencial when discussing the issues of today? Is Queen Bloody Mary better than a jihadist?
Liberal western democracies have evolved beyond systemic religious oppression, but the third world lags behind, dragging their feet in the middle ages. We can feel superior if we like but we cannot claim innocence. The world is not black and white.
If George Bush's America had never attacked Saddam's Iraq would ISIS be a problem today? Considering ISIS and Saddam are both Sunni Muslim I would say, "Yes, they'd be a problem, but a different problem." We cannot travel; in time to change our actions but we can go into the past to analyse our decisions and the resulting mess we created. Even a staunch conservative might admit we might have fucked up in Iraq, but hard core conservatives don't admit mistakes while counting ill gotten riches. The ends always justify their means. Regime change in Iraq caused billions of dollars to change hands, someone always profits from war.
The ends justify their means. I'm guessing that's exactly what the Islamic terrorist is thinking as he saws off the head of an innocent man. These men, Pearl, Foley and Sotloff represent precisely the values a religious lunatic would cut down, truth and justice. The ethics of journalism are contrary to the ethics of religion. Truth is the enemy of religion.
What else is truth the enemy of? Is truth opposed to government? Is truth the enemy of freedom? I believe truth is the enemy of police. In a war between monotheist belief systems, Judaism, Christianity and Islam ... is truth on any side? I don't think so.
In my heart I hope Pearl, Foley and Sotloff met their maker with the same courage they pursued their craft. If they met their God I hope they questioned the deity about the failure of God to make this world a better place as they would question a politician ... because that's what journalists do. They question all forms of authority.
Witnessing the inhumanities of war in the Middle East it's doubtful Daniel, James and Steven had any illusions of gods, religion or government. They died with eyes wide open to an injust and uncivil word. I wish them eternal peace ... whatever that means.