Change of Plans
I wanted to take a day off from serious stuff today. It's been a big week, and, you know, a little diversion into football or some-such would be welcome.
But the news from Russia is just so overwhelming to me that I have to comment.
First, I would encourage everyone to pray for the families of the victims, for those in recovery now, and for the people whose lives have been forever shattered by this incident. When I walk into schools in the morning, I don't see children in mortal fear, I don't see parents anxious for the safety of their children, I don't see teachers and staff trying to form a defensive perimeter. But the people of that little town will now always walk into school with those characteristics. It is sad, it is horrible, and it is . . . well. . .
Second, this is the world as we know it right now. It's not on our soil yet, but these brave "freedom fighters" have now decided that the most innocent, the most helpless, and the most hopeful are now the best targets for their horrible brand of hatred. Clearly, this act is not designed to change policy through persuasion--it is designed to introduce to the collective psyche of the world an element of horror that we haven't seen since the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. The hope of these sub-human barbarians is that every person with an inkling of compassion will consider every decision they make in the context of "what if they do this at MY school?". And it is not--incredibly--unique to this situation. How many attacks by Palestinians on Israelis have specifically targeted school busses? or bar/bat mitzvahs? An attack on a child has a force-multiplying effect on policy makers, because civilized people everywhere recognize the primacy of protecting the young; and those who are willing to set aside that primary calling of the human condition no longer have any claim to rights, freedoms, or considerations accorded to human beings.
Let me say that more clearly: ANY person who believes that targeting children as a means to effect policy change forfeits any other rights--period. The concept of "Human Rights" presupposes a certain semblance of humanity; once that threshhold is crossed, no guarantee of any protection--Constitutional or otherwise--should be enforced. Call the lawyers from PETA--inexplicably, the ACLU is too good for these monsters.
Thirdly, the Russian government is the very model of ineptitude. Though the reports in this case seem to indicate that troops only stormed in after the explosions started, it would not surprise me to find out that some level of incompetency triggered the whole thing. In much the same way as the theater incident a while back, the Russian government managed to take a terrible situation and allow it to become a wost-case scenario. This, on top of a decade's worth of bungling the Chechan issue.
Am I saying the the Russians deserved this because of their treatment of Chechans? No--nothing any government in the modern world could do justifies the specific targeting of children. Even in Rwanda and Sudan, it would be unconscienable for the victims to begin targeting the children of those responsible for genocide. And historically speaking, as awful as Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot were, their children would and should have never been used as pawns in the great struggle between good and evil. Imagine how the world would have cried out had Jews liberated from the camps taken over a military prep school in Berlin and started executing the children of officers in the Nazi Party. It would have never happened because the vast, vast majority of peoples on the planet recognize that children occupy a special sanctuary in our duties as people.
Oh, and I can hear you out there--you idiots who are trying to make the case that Bush/Reagan/Nixon/Johnson/Kennedy/Truman were all "sub-human" too, because thousands of children were killed in their wars. But there is a distinct and important difference--in those cases the children were NEVER targets. In fact, most of the time our soldiers would go out of their way and put themselves at risk to avoid the needless killing of children. But Michael Moore and Al Franken don't get it--they don't have the clarity to recognize the difference, so let me spell it out easier. If I'm hitting a golf ball out on the course, and I'm aiming for the green, and the ball goes a little off course and hits a bystander, that's unfortunate and possibly tragic; if, on the other hand, I take out my seven-iron and walk up to that bystander and whack him/her on the head a couple dozen times, that's atrocious, criminal and sub-human. Do you get the difference? The result may end up the same, but the intent was vastly different.
And for me, that is the great fear. I'm not sure I'm all that scared of another 9-11 style attack; it's when we get to the point that Israel is at that I'm worried about. When walking into a mall could be met with a rain of bullets; when stopping at a stoplight puts me in a blast zone; or when my daughters become targets. . . that's what scares me.
This is no more a law enforcement problem than an infestation of termites is a law enforcement problem. There is only one solution--eradicate the vermin. Preferably at the nest and not in our home. | |
