Friday, October 21, 2011

Gaddafi's Death & Human Nature

When they killed Osama Bin Laden, I celebrated the death of terrorism he symbolized and was joyous as many others, because this man was the ultimate evil, at least for most Americans of my generation. Back then @penelopeinparis raised an important issue of morality and justice of Bin Laden's killing in her post Bin Laden’s Death: A Reason To Rejoice? and our opinions on the subject were different...

When yesterday they killed Gaddafi I celebrated Libya's freedom from a ruthless dictator, BUT the circulating video of his death and graphic pictures of his body ( I am not even going to link to those), this time made me think about human nature, justice, and morality. To me, there is no question that the guy deserved to die. Because of him thousands of Libyans died this year alone and were killed during his 42 years (can you believe this guy?!) reign. Even though, again, as in Bin Laden's case and any other one, trial would have been a better option. There are political reasons for his killing, of course, and Libyan rebels were very likely following NATO's or European directives. If Gaddaffi was trialed he could have said too many unflattering things about European leaders, as Sarzozy and Berlusconi (does anyone need to hear more unflattering things about Berlusconi?!).

But, to me, the worst part of this whole thing is the way "The King of Kings" was killed, these horrible images & video circulating all over Internet, TV channels playing it and showing them over and over. When I saw the video on Russian channel, I was like "ok, they never cared too much about feelings of the viewers anyways." But, American TV channels, usually so careful and considerate, when it comes to the "axis of evil" personalities, really don't give a damn. Now, I understand why photos of dead Osama Bin Laden were not made public.

In my opinion, the way colonel was killed really shows the true human nature: we can be both kind and cruel, there are no good and bad people, it's always a mix. Only in blockbuster movies good guys are generous and merciful, while bad guys are utterly vicious and ugly on top if things. Real life is very different and rarely follows a perfect scenario.

Update: Unfortunately in real life it all ends in a very inhumane way: Muammar Gaddafi's 'trophy' body on show in Misrata meat store


I would like to end with a quote by Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the US Congress:

Libyans are safer now after Gaddafi's death and the Arab world is breaking free. But never celebrate death of anyone, even bad people.


How do YOU feel about Gaddafi's death and Libya's liberation? Share with me, it's amazing to see history unfold in front of us this year, and we definitely need to analyze it and draw some lessons from it, don't you think?

2 comments:

  1. I too really appreciate American administration's standpoint especially Obama refused the idea.

    I liked your post and felt resonating with my ideals and ideas so much that I could not leave the post without a comment.

    If we celebrate death of them,we might question ourselves on which side of the humanitarian line we stand?

    Thanks for thoughtful post.

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  2. Thank you, for the comment, Vasundhar! I am glad you agree with me. I think everybody has their own understanding when it is "enough" or "too much". For me, the way Gaddafi was killed and especially how his body was displayed afterwards was definitely "too much" and I felt like I need say something about it.

    P.S. Sorry fo such a late reply, didn't see your comment before.

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