The Glory of Justice (The Glory of Killing Revisited)
It seems that many of my acquaintences didn't take all that well with my previous entry titled "The Glory of Killing," and so in hopes of winning them over to my position I thought that I would speak a bit more on this very difficult topic.
I suppose I could try and be more "sensitive" as to how others might process what it is I'm attempting to address. Afterall, they haven't spent hour upon hour, upon the throne or in the shower, wrestling over a hard topic such as the killing of enemies. That's probably where I should start to offer some clarification, and possibly some nuance to my previous post.
When I spoke of the "killing of a human being," I hoped that one could extrapolate out from within the context of my writing to realize that I wasn't speaking of just any old human, but truly evil men or those that serve them. Hitler would be one. Pol Pot would be another human in whose death we could glory. Pol Pot alone murdered 1/5 of the Cambodian population. Many were killed for being students, for wearing glasses, or just because somebody felt like ending their existence. They weren't all adults either--women and children first took on a whole new meaning under the Pol Pot regime. When you think about it, he and his minions exterminated what would be the equivalent of 50 million Americans. So, when I speak of "human being" this type of person is who I'm addressing.
That still leaves us with the question, "Ok, so why should I even glory in the killing of this type of person?" The answer would be that we shouldn't if somehow the actions of the person could somehow be separated from the person. As if the person were somehow not comprised of his actions. As if justice could be brought to bear upon the actions and not the individual--a "Love the sinner, but hate the sin" kind of fallacy. And here lies the rub of the matter. Justice is not an abstract principle that exists in the nether regions only to be admired while disassociated from humanity or this worldly existence. It is foolish to believe that justice can be celebrated, or gloried in, without having a face attached to it and, on the contrary, to embrace the idea that evil could somehow reside apart from the creature--apart from flesh and blood. On second thought, why don't we just put murder on trial and glory in the justice of declaring it evil and heinous? Wouldn't that be awesome! That way we could, much like Pilate, wash our hands of doing the dirty business of justice, and detach ourselves because in those moments we realize that we can't detach justice from its recipient.
To conclude, when I say we should glory in the killing of men such as I mentioned, I am simply saying in another way that we should glory in justice incarnate. Justice come in flesh and blood to exact a penalty on evil incarnate. We are not, of course, to glory in killing for the sake of killing. That would make us like the very cancer our justice systems and armies seek to destroy. But we are bound to glory in the killing of those who demand that their own blood be spilt by their monstrous acts against humanity. We can glory in their demise in light of the many who will be spared the grief of their company.
I do hope this has shed some light upon what I was saying, and in the end moves some of you at least to believe that "maybe he hasn't gone off the deep end afterall." I can only hope and pray. Lock and load.
I suppose I could try and be more "sensitive" as to how others might process what it is I'm attempting to address. Afterall, they haven't spent hour upon hour, upon the throne or in the shower, wrestling over a hard topic such as the killing of enemies. That's probably where I should start to offer some clarification, and possibly some nuance to my previous post.
When I spoke of the "killing of a human being," I hoped that one could extrapolate out from within the context of my writing to realize that I wasn't speaking of just any old human, but truly evil men or those that serve them. Hitler would be one. Pol Pot would be another human in whose death we could glory. Pol Pot alone murdered 1/5 of the Cambodian population. Many were killed for being students, for wearing glasses, or just because somebody felt like ending their existence. They weren't all adults either--women and children first took on a whole new meaning under the Pol Pot regime. When you think about it, he and his minions exterminated what would be the equivalent of 50 million Americans. So, when I speak of "human being" this type of person is who I'm addressing.
That still leaves us with the question, "Ok, so why should I even glory in the killing of this type of person?" The answer would be that we shouldn't if somehow the actions of the person could somehow be separated from the person. As if the person were somehow not comprised of his actions. As if justice could be brought to bear upon the actions and not the individual--a "Love the sinner, but hate the sin" kind of fallacy. And here lies the rub of the matter. Justice is not an abstract principle that exists in the nether regions only to be admired while disassociated from humanity or this worldly existence. It is foolish to believe that justice can be celebrated, or gloried in, without having a face attached to it and, on the contrary, to embrace the idea that evil could somehow reside apart from the creature--apart from flesh and blood. On second thought, why don't we just put murder on trial and glory in the justice of declaring it evil and heinous? Wouldn't that be awesome! That way we could, much like Pilate, wash our hands of doing the dirty business of justice, and detach ourselves because in those moments we realize that we can't detach justice from its recipient.
To conclude, when I say we should glory in the killing of men such as I mentioned, I am simply saying in another way that we should glory in justice incarnate. Justice come in flesh and blood to exact a penalty on evil incarnate. We are not, of course, to glory in killing for the sake of killing. That would make us like the very cancer our justice systems and armies seek to destroy. But we are bound to glory in the killing of those who demand that their own blood be spilt by their monstrous acts against humanity. We can glory in their demise in light of the many who will be spared the grief of their company.
I do hope this has shed some light upon what I was saying, and in the end moves some of you at least to believe that "maybe he hasn't gone off the deep end afterall." I can only hope and pray. Lock and load.
posted by Kobra at 9:50 PM
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