This required a little more space than facebook
yes, FB has seduced me with its easy ways, but LJ is much better suited to turning something over in my mind.
This morning, the local news reported a breaking story that a US drone attack had killed some more high ranking terrorists. I'll admit that my first thought was, "How does this affect me? I've never heard of this guy before. To be honest, the government could probably be making this whole thing up and I'd have no idea." There was no thought of how another human being had been killed. The fact that it only tangentially entered my mind bothers me a little. As I told a friend of mine, I should probably be bothered that I take it so lightly. A troubling little side line of thought, to be sure.
It was also only later that I learned that this particular anti-US cleric was also a US citizen...
Look, the world may be a better place for those who are left because this guy is dead... I honestly don't know about that. What I do know (or think I remember from high school) is that people with US citizenship are supposed to have US trials before the government writes them off. Even Oswald was being held over for trial after shooting the President of the United States. As far as I know, this man had no trial and the government didn't feel it had to show any evidence before killing him. Perhaps the precedent is what bothers me the most, that even a congressional representative (Peter King) can cheer this side-step of the law the rest of us have to live under. Sure, now it's just okay to kill "terrorists" but does this send us somewhere, as a nation, that we don't want to go? Somewhere that makes it a little easier for the government to ignore laws when it wants to?
And why is kind of okay, to me, when this kind of thing happens to other terrorists who aren't Americans? Maybe I'm as unhappy with how I feel about it all as I am with how my government has handled this in my name. Troubling times.
This morning, the local news reported a breaking story that a US drone attack had killed some more high ranking terrorists. I'll admit that my first thought was, "How does this affect me? I've never heard of this guy before. To be honest, the government could probably be making this whole thing up and I'd have no idea." There was no thought of how another human being had been killed. The fact that it only tangentially entered my mind bothers me a little. As I told a friend of mine, I should probably be bothered that I take it so lightly. A troubling little side line of thought, to be sure.
It was also only later that I learned that this particular anti-US cleric was also a US citizen...
Look, the world may be a better place for those who are left because this guy is dead... I honestly don't know about that. What I do know (or think I remember from high school) is that people with US citizenship are supposed to have US trials before the government writes them off. Even Oswald was being held over for trial after shooting the President of the United States. As far as I know, this man had no trial and the government didn't feel it had to show any evidence before killing him. Perhaps the precedent is what bothers me the most, that even a congressional representative (Peter King) can cheer this side-step of the law the rest of us have to live under. Sure, now it's just okay to kill "terrorists" but does this send us somewhere, as a nation, that we don't want to go? Somewhere that makes it a little easier for the government to ignore laws when it wants to?
And why is kind of okay, to me, when this kind of thing happens to other terrorists who aren't Americans? Maybe I'm as unhappy with how I feel about it all as I am with how my government has handled this in my name. Troubling times.