I believe in the value of a human life.
I was refreshing Digg’s home page as usual and came across a story about an Afghan man who reasoned that suicide bombings were “un-afghan” and “un-islamic”. On his way home, he was killed.
So I have to ask: what is wrong with this story?
I mean, surely it is a work of fiction! A man says that suicide bombing (that is: blowing yourself up and taking others with you) is un-nationalistic and un-Islamic. Nothing wrong with that. To many of us, he is stating the very obvious. Why, why, then did this man have to:
- Even have to give a speech condemning these acts and..
- be killed for stating something that is universally true?
I mean, is it not common sense that taking innocent lives is wrong? Is it not common sense that if you just blow yourself up you’re really not giving yourself the opportunity to continually try to change whatever it is you’re trying to change? Is it not common sense to be a tad more selfless?
I read this article and I thought, “shit, these suicide bombers are fucking, fucking retarded”.
I became genuinely angry. I was angry for those families who unexpectedly lost loved ones. I was angry for students who come to school, fearing that they might not live through the day. I was angry for those innocent people. Those people who thought that today was just going to be a simple day for a jot down to the crowded supermarket, or those who thought that they would give their feet a rest and take the bus to school. Those people did not know that they were going to have their lives unexpectedly stolen from them when some maniac decides that he is going to help bring about change by blowing his ass up.
These fucking suicide bombers piss the living shit out of me. I can just imagine them saying, “Oh, we are very discontent with your policy/ways/ideas/institution! Let’s blow ourselves (and the innocent people around us) up to express our displeasure and promote a viable alternate solution!”
Fuck them. Fuck them and their right to do whatever they want without considering the lives of those around them. Or, maybe they did consider the lives of those around them. Maybe they did consider and concluded that the innocents surrounding them did not matter. Maybe they feel that the death of innocents will force a government to change its ways. Maybe they feel that by continually causing chaos and disorder they are paving way for something better. Something worth all the pain, suffering and death. Well time for a fucking reality check. The methods aren’t working. What kind of image do those suicide bombers create for themselves when they blow themselves (along with others) the fuck up? It’s an image of irrational, crazy, narrow-minded, and stupid people.
I voiced my displeasure to my friend Jimmy. Although he sympathsizes with me, he, being the progressive and tolerant person that he is, provided many reasons as to why the suicide bombers would view their course of action rational.
- Anti-westerner hate speech
- The Islamic religion promotes it
- Glory of sacrificing yourself for your cause
- They have different standards, different backgrounds, and different status quos than us
- Kill yourself to kill the non-believers (again referencing the Qur’an and Islamic religion)
He even has a youtube video showing quotes from the Qur’an that promotes killing non-believers, kill those for Allah. I truly appreciate Jimmy for being such a rational individual and for looking at this from both sides. It is true, the Qur’an does contain many lines that advocate the death of “non-believers”.
I ask this. What kind of religion advocates killing those that have different points of views?
That being asked, I can sort of understand were these extremists are coming from a bit better, but…I suppose my western mind just cannot fathom why anyone would throw their lives away for a cause and take the many innocents around them with them, whether or not those innocents agreed with their ideals.
I guess no matter how hard I try to understand the extremists, to make some sort of exception to the rule to make their actions rational, I just can’t understand. I can’t stop being angry everytime I reread that headline “Teacher Killed After Calling Suicide Bombers Un-Islamic”. Doesn’t that headline just reject everything that intution tells us?
Furthermore, just becomes you’re in another part of the world, another culture, another set of values and morals, one thing should never, ever change. And that is the value of a human life. What clause of humanity says that it is ok to take another life. What snippet, small print, exception to the rule, says that it is fine to disregard the value of human life and act selfishly to the point where one kills innocents.
The only life that I own is my own. Jimmy’s life is his own. It is not up to me to decide whether he gets to live tomorrow or the next day. If I have a grievance with something and decide to kill myself in defense of my opinion, then fine, go fucking nuts. But to walk over to Jimmy’s home strapped to the brim with explosive devices and then set it off with his family and friends in his living room? That is stupid and inconsiderate. If I’m not alive to continually have the chance to promote my agenda, then what the fuck was the point of all of this?
[Note: I am well, well aware of the many flaws and narrow-minded views and points that I have made. I guess you get like that sometime when you're really, really genuinely passionate about something, huh?]
