Terrorists Murder Civilians: Beheading enemies: Islamic Political Fanaticism: Islamic Jihad: Destruction of Western Culture: Anti-Semitism.
The Murder of Mr. Nick Berg.
(Originally published as Social Commentary Newsletter No. 13. Monday May 17th 2004 under the title: WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?)
The sentiments expressed in this article still apply in 2009.
From time to time I do internet searches for 'bendedek' to see what is being said on the internet about me or the 'King's Calendar', and I came across the following link. I quote:
But yesterday it appears as if the entire world suddenly forgot what outrage was because of the release of a tape that showed the brutal murdering of Nick Berg, a Jewish American, who simply was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I decided to do some searching on the old world wide web to find some quotes, any quotes dealing with his horrific killing. This is what I found:
"...tragedy unfolding in Iraq..." - Sen. Ted Kennedy
"...we are hearing about such atrocities..." - R.P. BenDedek
"...'sickened' by the pictures..." - Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski
Absolutely nothing from the major media, foreign press, or even our own government denouncing the killing. All those quotes above are about the atrocities committed at Abu Ghraib prison. So my question to you is, "Where is the outrage?"
I sent a reply to the above comments in which I admitted that I had not in fact written anything about Mr. Berg's murder; I tried to, but was unable to write anything that was both meaningful and printable, although I have seen some pretty obnoxious comments in the Courier Mail online newspaper.
No one in fact can condemn Mr. Berg's murder without facing condemnation for the abuse of prisoners in Iraq. But the one point that can be forgotten in doing that is that abuse in the west is performed by 'rogue' elements of society. It is not our USUAL mode of conduct. And therein lies the difference - For these terrorist bastards it is the usual order of the day, and not just toward enemy soldiers, not just to foreigners in their land, but to every person who stands in their way or to whom they object or with whom they disagree. They are indeed 'Murderous Bastards' and their agenda is not Islam, but power.
When I saw the 'sanitary' photograph of the captive Mr. Berg, I could not, as a father, help but imagine he was MY own son, and while it might be polite to offer condolences to his family, as a father I feel that condolences would not personally offer me any comfort.
The west is fast losing this war, primarily because 'Military Intelligence' is an oxymoron, and secondly because 'we' don't have the faintest idea of 'what and how' the Terrorists think, and while none of us would like to see a 'government controlled press' such as we have here in China, where no more than 20% bad news can be published, our western 'free' press and democratic rights to public comments provide great fodder for the other side.
I am not personally 'outraged' by Mr. Berg's murder, such things are to be expected from these people. No, I was not outraged, I was sickened to the point that I even now I don't dare express my true thoughts and feelings. How do I seperate my comments about 'those' people without also inherently including Muslims?; something I can't do since I have muslim family members.
All forms of abuse are serious, but the least recognised is Emotional Abuse. In the Article entitled: Emotional Abuse and Female Emotional Abusers this issue is examined. It touches upon Religious abuse, Political Activist abuse, Feminist Abuse, Child abuse, and Men who are abused by women.
R.P.BenDedek is from Brisbane Australia and is the author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' at http://www.kingscalendar.com His academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
He writes photographic 'Stories from China' and social editorial commentaries, both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing newspaper columnist. He currently teaches Conversational English in China and in addition to his English Lessons at KingsCalendar, he has created specific sites for Students of English.
