May 02, 2011

Justice has been done

(...or has it?)

So the leader of the world's most feared terrorist organization is dead. His influence was destructive and I am glad he is no longer going to influence people to take up arms for a radical cause. However it is a fact that he has already succeeded in making the world more violent, and as a martyr he might just continue to do so for a while, if somebody does not stop this vicious cycle. There will be others and an idea cannot die like a person.

Put it however you like, I just don't think that the death of a man is a reason to party in the streets. It is eerie to imagine the similarity in feeling between the terrorists after a successful attack and those civilians celebrating the death of their enemy.

Maybe we should take the moment to reflect on some perspectives we are less used to in the west. So here is an article about reactions from parts of the arab world.
And I would like to invite you to something even more interesting than reading about what other people think. Listen to a sociologist for a couple of minutes and let him help you explore an interesting way to think empathetically about other people. His experiment sure had an effect on me, maybe it will on you: Sam Richards' Radical Experiment in Empathy

Hope you are all having a happy and peaceful day out there!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

When one goes down, another steps up.