Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. –John F. Kennedy
In war I have often wondered how one side can revel and gloat in a situation that has turned to their advantage; especially when it involves the loss of lives.
This brings me to the Fidayeen-e-Islam group. They are a small Pakistani outfit who have admitted carrying out the attack on the Islamabad Marriott Hotel.
What was their reason? To stop “American Interference” in Pakistan.
For their belief, 53 people have lost their lives. For their belief, 266 people have been injured. For their belief, the world will now know more about this group then ever before.
It is a boastful, gloating shame (and quite possibly a sham as well) that terrorists can speak with pride of the chaos and destruction that they regularly cause.
It is also a boastful, gloating disgrace that the “Good Guy v Bad Guy” stereotype still exists in these situations. When people are dying, no good can come from it. Quite simply, when people are dying, the “bad guy” wins.
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 and is filed under Pain and suffering, Thoughts & Questions, Views on News.
Responses are currently closed
Matthew Says:
A far more pressing human rights issue is abortion which is killing much more people than war.
September 26th, 2008 at 5:00 am
Mike Says:
Matthew, thank you for your comments. There are a lot of issues that should be considered pressing, unfortunately they are all fighting for attention in a world where people are trying to salvage what they can of their own life and personal problems before having time to help others.
It is a sad reflection but until we all wake up and see that suffering isn’t right , we will not be able to change.
September 30th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Matthew Says:
Mike,
That has to be one of the most meaningless responses I could imagine to what I said and allow me to explain why.
Let me make it simple for you. We have had our chance to live and smile , to love and be loved. Millions of babies who are aborted every year have not.
To dismiss abortion and say that we have to look after ourselves first is the most selfish and totally self destructive thing I you could possible say. If a politician were to stand up and say that he would not be qualified for public office.
Catholic teaching makes quite clear mike that not all issues are the same. Some are intrinsically evil and should always be opposed.
Not all issues are equal.
This is basic moral philosphy.
Simply because abortion is “competing for attention” doesnt make it less in it’s importance. Please take the time to think about what I have just said and realise that in terms of the number of innocent lives lost this is the greatest tradegy mankind could face.
That’s presuming you think babies are human beings. You do believe they are human don’t you?
September 30th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Mike Says:
I agree with you, not all issues are the same and I never suggested for one minute that the issue of abortion should be held any less then that of any life being taken, your first statement was:
“A far more pressing human rights issue is abortion which is killing much more people than war.”
Therefore you are ranking that issue ahead of war which has caused the loss of untold millions for centuries and the reasons can be for something trivial to the survival of a particular culture, race, group etc.
Abortion is something that does not get the time it deserves because it is not simply a case of black and white. If it was, we’d all agree and to be honest I understand both sides of the argument.
To place one serious issue, like that ahead of another? Not something I would like to do. It is fighting for attention with other forms of loss of life, because we have so much thrown at us every day in the media and every day in life.
From watching the ads of the children starving and dying in countries where the majority will never visit, to the problems closer to home; we are not in a society that can simply say “let’s ignore everything else and start with (insert problem) until we get it right”
We’re spread thin, from tolerance to time to funds to just about everything now and even as I speak, someone is dying, someone is considering an abortion, someone is being born.
Like I said, change can be had, but we all need to take a serious look at the issues. The question is will there ever be time…or agreement?
September 30th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Matthew Says:
YES I am placing it above war and unashamedly so.
We live in the present and not in the past. You are being completely irresponsible by trying to tie in all the wars past with the 4000 babies are dying every day because of abortion in the US alone.
A simple google search showed 41 million abortions in the year 2003 alone. That is 41 million innocent human lives.
How you can place all the wars in the world taking place right now on the same level as this?
Abortion IS black and white. It is Always wrong from the moment of conception. This is Catholic teaching, if you unrepentently go against this you put your salvation at rish! do you realise this?
October 1st, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Matthew Says:
*risk
October 1st, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Matthew Says:
placing one issue above another whether or not you like it is your moral obligation. You should do it and must do it . This does not mean you support evil but it means you are limiting the greater evil.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:20 pm
anonymous Says:
god will come and tell when its time so don;t worry just chill
November 13th, 2008 at 5:42 am
Rico Says:
“Mike,
That has to be one of the most meaningless responses I could imagine to what I said and allow me to explain why.”
To be fair your reference to abortion wasn’t exactly worthy of much more.
Instead of worrying about abortion why not take the obvious route to developing better forms of contraceptives. If you don’t want people to die of Malaria you find a fix for Malaria.
It’s called being proactive. As it stands we also have the issue of people ranting about Abortion yet in many states homosexuals cannot adopt the kids that ARE born and not wanted. That’s a large group of children that never know love because of some close minded individuals.
Which is how I feel about the abortion rant. People whine about abortion but never address the obvious nature of why it exists. If you don’t want something to happen ,find out what causes it and how you can alleviate that, instead of trying to destroy the activity itself.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Rico Says:
Oh and to follow up since you asked the “Are fetus’s human” question.
There is little doubt in my mind that until a fetus has developed all the organs that result in a living breathing human (save for deformities) they are in fact not human. They are a parasitic organism.
However we take into account also that this happens VERY early in the pregnancy. Abortion is not an easy process, people do not do it for fun, and it is not something that should be made illegal.
Assuming my previous post went up. The wise man discovers the cause, the fool attempts to alleviate the result.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:32 am