Saturday, October 22, 2011

Goodbye Gaddafi

Okay, several things here. First, Gaddafi is dead. A lot of people are really looking into this, it seems be was beaten and killed after he was captured, which itself is bad. The ethical position here is that no matter his crimes, he shouldn't be tortured (kicked and punched in his case, there are worse tortures). Yet, my gut feeling is one of "hells yeah".

I've always believed in my more rational moments that no matter what, we don't torture back. Why? Because we're the good guys. That's what makes us different. Yet I can't seem to muster any sympathy for Gaddafi. He had a nasty decades long reign in which be committed a drastic number of crimes and abuses, and unlike Mubarak of Egypt, when the protests finally started, he didn't quit. He fought on and plunged the country into a full civil war, causing the deaths of so many more.

It's difficult for me to care. However, there's another reason that he should have been treated well, and that's not for his sake, but for the sake of the new leaders. They need credibility, they need public opinion. And even though abusing him helped appease the crowd right now, in the long run, treating him humanely would have done more good for their cause.

But they didn't, and it's done. Still, I won't be shedding any tears.
 

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