|
|
 |
|
The
views expressed
on this page are soley those of the author and do not
necessarily
represent the views of County News Online
|
 |
From the Other Side of the Edge…..
Death, by
Negotiation, …and Killing, to Save Face
By Joe Facinoli
The Irish cop, played so well by Sean Connery, in the movie “The
Untouchables”, has a telling line, near the end of that show.
It describes in perfect symmetry, and brutal vengefulness, …the way
mobsters, ruthless political leaders, and ego-maniacal religious and
other fanatics, have functioned over the centuries.
He said, that: “…if they pull a knife (on you), …then you
pull out a gun. If they put one of yours in the hospital,
…then you put one of theirs in the morgue.”
It’s the classic, “eye for an eye” (or worse) form of threat and
intimidation, ...death by negotiation, …and mass killing just to save
face, which has been used by so many callous and uncaring barbarians
(sometimes in sheep’s clothing), for eons.
We see it everywhere, …in history, …and especially
today. And still, …it makes no sense.
Two (or more) inflexible, unforgiving, and often viciously cold-hearted
entities (usually countries, but sometimes just powerful individuals),
want the same thing, or territory, or just some vengeance on the other,
…and then we can be certain of the one thing which will surely follow
such a showdown:
Many, MANY good and uninvolved people, …are going to
die.
Where to start?
We have such a long list of “Hall of Shame” candidates, from which to
choose. From the world’s past, and just as bad, from our
present day.
All tyrannical, despotic, or just politically motivated and heartless
phonies, with enough amassed power to determine the life or death fate
of hundreds, thousands, even millions, …just to make a
point.
We can point back to the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Turks, Huns,
Mongols, and Assyrians, as perpetrators of pure evil, each in their own
ways, and for their own purposes.
And there were more, certainly, like the many Chinese, Japanese, and
other Eastern Empirical “Civilizations”, all of which survived through
inhumane brutality.
But all of these, and so many more from ancient times, were, …how
should we say it, …uh, …not quite as “civilized” as we think we, and
the world, are today.
Appearances can most certainly be deceiving, but surely, aren’t we more
educated, and can’t we communicate much faster now, than at any time
since the Big Bang explosion?
So why then, have we learned so little, and why do we continue to
behave, and to “settle” our disputes, in such primitive (not to mention
ineffective) ways, which history has shown them to be utter and
catastrophic failures ???
Tradition dies hard. And legacy seems to trump all,
especially where and when one’s land, and/or religion, comes into
play.
No gray areas there. Just “one way” to be, …so like
it, …or leave!
Or, we will fight you for it, and if you don’t give in, we will just
kill you, and your family, and your whole culture, if need
be.
Consciences are for weaklings, and losers, it seems.
Winning, and the more brutally the better, justifies
everything. The strongest always survives, and that
also makes them right, always, …or didn’t you know that?
More recently, we have suffered through wars to end all wars, during
the length of the 20th century, caused by some of the worst dictators,
and mass murderers, in human history.
How are we doin’ now, with that “learning curve” thing, from all those
experiences??
Apparently, not so well.
And we need only to go back a scant 150 years, into U.S. history, to
find a time when over 600,000 of our citizens (and untold thousands of
“undocumented” folks) DIED, due to the “internal” disagreement over the
economic machinations, and political advantages, of one race of human
beings owning another race of humans, and denying them all of their
rights and worldly dignities.
This, from the “great democratic experiment”, …the one which had
defended so fiercely, all personal freedoms and
liberties.
And we couldn’t find another way, to figure out such a basically wrong
and abhorrent thing, without killing off hundreds of thousands of our
own people, and with them, all the generations which they would have
spawned after them??
Obviously, we couldn’t.
But tragically, we still haven’t learned anything, and are still
killing off thousands every week world-wide, every day even, all in the
name of culture, territorialism, ego, and self-righteousness.
Sad beyond sad. And stupid beyond any sense of the
word.
Our current roll call of tragedy starts with the Middle East, but in no
way does it end there.
The Ukraine, Iraq (again), …Afghanistan (still, ..and why ever?),
…Syria, …not so long ago in Northern Ireland, …in the gang ravaged
countries of Central America, and in Mexico as well, …and more, all of
which have the threat, and pall, of death hanging over them, before all
else, and despite otherwise vital and long standing cultures, in all of
these areas.
Might makes right, in these places, …and all the rest doesn’t
matter.
But the two worst current examples of this kind of insanity, and the
seeming political necessity to continue it, are in our headlines today,
and have been for a long time.
First, …why are we going back into Iraq, and getting involved there
again??????
Yes, people are suffering there, and dying. And at
the hands of terrible people, who not only have no thought nor care for
anyone other than those from their own culture, and their own brand of
some God-forsaken, poor excuse for spirituality, or a religion, …but
want to kill them, merely because they are NOT of their
kind.
These are tribal regions we are re-entering, and even in the cities of
Iraq, there is no real government, nor central leadership, despite the
naïve and childlike claims and protestations, of our own,
over-his-head, lying-to-himself (and us), poor excuse for a
President.
These people will always be at risk, …tomorrow, next week, next
year. And obviously, they either can’t or won’t change any
of their own circumstances, and haven’t, for hundreds of
years.
It’s not our business anymore, if it ever was, so please, stay out of
there. We tried, and thousands of Americans died in
the vain effort. It didn’t work. Stay out,
…please.
Finally, the Middle East. What can be
said?
A small, but politically powerful group, has ambushed and taken over an
entire culture, and now is demanding that this culture commit mass
suicide, by contesting a much superior opponent, all so that the
political leaders can flex their weak muscles, and pretend like they
are relevant, and important.
Hamas is simply, …the definition of satanic.
And a lot of other words, many of which also begin with an “s”, and
some other, much stronger words, too.
They need to be removed, and eliminated, …as soon as possible.
But why has Israel taken Hamas’ bait, so easily and so
foolishly. They might win the military
advantage here, but they will never win the battle of world
opinion.
Not as long as there are killing 2,000 civilians, and good neighbors,
every two weeks, …even in retaliation. They are better than
that, and smarter.
But no, they get that inhuman, over-protective feeling, running inside
of them, and they have to run into the Gaza, or the Golan, and wipe out
what amounts to nothing more than human (civilian) shields, which will
only come back to bite them later.
They are smarter than that. And they know how to do
it. But they can’t resist the muscle flex, and the “pose”,
and they get drawn in, against a group that cares not even a little
bit, about the massive loss of life, which these battles always
produce.
Stop negotiating the acceptable number of dead people, in all of these
conflicts, and stop using these same corpses as make-up, for some ugly
politician’s bruised ego.
Dead people are dead people, …and they won’t be coming
back. Nor will the children they will never
have. Nor their children’s children.
But land is just land, …and will always be there.
Which then, …is more important?
Joe Facinoli
--Joe can be reached at: joefacinoli@gmail.com
Intelligent Response Encouraged !!
© Copyright 2014, Joe Facinoli
|
|
|
|
