I have spent considerable effort in conversations and otherwise to remind people that insurgents, “terrorists”, and other militants are in fact humans like we are. That while their tactics are often unjustifiable, their grievances are based more in reality than just, “They hate out freedoms”. An example, to very selectively quote members of the Pakistani Taliban in the NYT:
“because the government is targeting our families and females”
While I disagree strongly with their, and most other religious ideologies, I do still hold at some level many of the horrors we see done in the world are at some level backlash if not blowback from our policies and actions (whether direct or indirectly through our proxies). That does not of course justify the methods, but when when faced by the most powerful armies in the world in regimes offering no political recourse, we should not be surprised that tactics become unconventional.
However, it is very, very, very hard to paint anyone who does this as human, this time giving the full quote:
“We selected that army’s school for attack because the government is targeting our families and females”
Or more specifically:
“With the slaughter of at least 145 schoolchildren and teachers at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan … Many of the children reportedly were killed by a gunshot to the head. A teacher was burned alive in front of the students.”
While I agree that we, or our proxies in the Pakistani government, are grievously wrong for targeting “families and females” (or anyone innocent), there is no justification for intentionally killing children period. Anyone who is capable of doing such, or encouraging others to do such, does lack at some level the very basis of what makes us human – compassion. It is in fact hard, nigh impossible, to label anyone who could look a child in the eye and kill them with the moniker, “human”. This is true of both “terrorist” or state sponsored organized militia, no matter what evil it is intended to avenge.
One might I suppose be so jaded (sick) as to see this as having political value, but even that seems remarkably iffy. How this can possibly help anyone’s cause I cannot imagine, and is likely to provide ample justification for ratcheting down further on Muslims throughout the world. Maybe the hope is such ratcheting will create a powder keg where Muslims finally explode, massacring their so-called Western oppressors, but more likely it will just make the lives of millions, if not billions, of Muslims that much harder.
No, this is not a win for anyone, particularly (a massive understatement) the 145 or more school children, who were entirely innocent of the sins of their fathers. Those who did this need to get this right – they did not punish the parents or society (though yes, there will be grieving), they vilely punished 145 innocent school children who died in what was most certainly horrific circumstances.
Moreover, they have made it near impossible for any from the West to sustain their position that Fundamentalist Islam is made up of humans who should be treated as such. And, as Westerners already find it difficult to disambiguate a “good Muslim” from a “bad Muslim”, they have made it worse for an entire culture. This will not lead to any outcome that the twisted sponsors may hope, it will only lead to more and more death. It is lose, lose.
I am not a religious man, but I do truly hope these children went to a better place, one that can heal them of the terrors of the last moments of their lives. I also pray for the families, for no one should lose a child intentionally, even if they might judged complicit in the killing of other children.
Conversely, while it is tempting to hope that those responsible end up in a very bad place, I do not wish this. At worst I wish oblivion on them, however more ideally a place where they can learn the horrific error of their ways. Where, in fact, they can learn that every child’s life is equally precious. Where they can learn to become human again.
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