*dusts off devil's advocate hat*
I can be a muslim while not supporting these 12 men the same way I can be a christian while desiring that the church recognize and support gay marriage, or women priests, or married priests, or any number of other examples.
Second of all, it's one thing to look at third world, developing countries and judge them for their cultures and beliefs -- after all, we in North America let women out of the kitchen decades ago, right? And we let women and black people vote ages ago, so why can't the rest of the world get their act together?
I'm not suggesting for a second that what those men did was ok. But please remember that in a few decades, people will be making comments about what we consider normal and civil today, and saying "my god, how could they have done that?"
Thirdly: the people who do this sort of thing are not just cruel; the majority of them are sick, sick individuals, who really need help. It's one thing to discuss shooting out their kneecaps (or other body parts) and stringing them up for the crows; it would be a nice change to see a discussion suggesting improvements to education and mental health systems that could catch and help these people, and hopefully prevent the horrible crimes in the first place.
gekko
I can be a muslim while not supporting these 12 men the same way I can be a christian while desiring that the church recognize and support gay marriage, or women priests, or married priests, or any number of other examples.
Second of all, it's one thing to look at third world, developing countries and judge them for their cultures and beliefs -- after all, we in North America let women out of the kitchen decades ago, right? And we let women and black people vote ages ago, so why can't the rest of the world get their act together?
I'm not suggesting for a second that what those men did was ok. But please remember that in a few decades, people will be making comments about what we consider normal and civil today, and saying "my god, how could they have done that?"
Thirdly: the people who do this sort of thing are not just cruel; the majority of them are sick, sick individuals, who really need help. It's one thing to discuss shooting out their kneecaps (or other body parts) and stringing them up for the crows; it would be a nice change to see a discussion suggesting improvements to education and mental health systems that could catch and help these people, and hopefully prevent the horrible crimes in the first place.
gekko
"Life is sacred and you are not its steward. You have stewardship over it but you don't own it. You're making a choice to go through this, it's not just happening to you. You're inviting it, and in some ways delighting in it. It's not accidental or coincidental. You're choosing it. You have to realize you've made choices."
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"