Moral Relativism and "A Mighty Heart" -Judea Pearl
Thanks to the release of the movie "A Mighty Heart," the legacy of my son, Daniel Pearl, is once again receiving attention. Yet the film compares Danny's abduction with Guantanamo and compares al-Qaeda militants with CIA agents. I am concerned that aspects of the movie will play into the hands of professional obscurers of moral clarity.
Danny's tragedy demands an end to this logic. There can be no comparison between those who take pride in the killing of an unarmed journalist and those who vow to end such acts - no ifs, ands, or buts. There was a time when drawing moral symmetries between two sides of every conflict was a mark of original thinking. Today, it reflects nothing but lazy conformity.
Judea Pearl is Daniel Pearl's father
(New Republic)
Thanks to the release of the movie "A Mighty Heart," the legacy of my son, Daniel Pearl, is once again receiving attention. Yet the film compares Danny's abduction with Guantanamo and compares al-Qaeda militants with CIA agents. I am concerned that aspects of the movie will play into the hands of professional obscurers of moral clarity.
Danny's tragedy demands an end to this logic. There can be no comparison between those who take pride in the killing of an unarmed journalist and those who vow to end such acts - no ifs, ands, or buts. There was a time when drawing moral symmetries between two sides of every conflict was a mark of original thinking. Today, it reflects nothing but lazy conformity.
Judea Pearl is Daniel Pearl's father
(New Republic)
1 comment:
Those are not really resonable comparisons, or rational parallels but the fact that they are made points out an important point. Every act in this modern world is scruitinized and instantly transmitted around the globe. What America is doing with Gitmo, including unlimited incarcerations with no due process as well as the torturing to death of prisoners in Iraq goes noticed, and makes us look foolish when we talk of the terrible human rights violations under Saddam Hussein. When you contemplate that surely, our government would not be holding these people if they were not guilty, think of the scores of inmates on American Death Row that have been exonerated by DNA evidence---and that's just in Texas! If police investigations and a trial can lead to such injustice, imagine what these round ups in other nations have done!!?? Daniel Pearl was a victim and a terrible lesson to be remembered. His death is not moral justification for other heinous acts. And terrorists cannot point to any moral justification for his death. Terrorism must be dealth with swiftly and effectively, but let us remember that Mr. Pearl, by virtue of the career he chose, was a defender of America's freedoms, and might nor appreciate the erosions of them in the last few years, with acts like his death used as their justification.
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