Monday, December 19, 2005

Tough on Terror

Dave at IC wants us to know he is tough on terror:
"However, I am not afraid to judge those who do the wrong thing. Those who murder in the name of religion. Those who seek to wipe us from the map. They are cartoon villains. They are mindless droids programmed to destroy. At least they forfeit the right to be considered anything else the minute they try to kill innocent people."
Let me make it clear: I also loath those who have murdered innocent civilians in cold blood. I also wish to defeat those who would replace freedom with religious tyranny. Dave isn't tougher on terrorists than me.

In fact, on this subject we differ from Dave on one small point: I believe that monsters remain human beings. In fact, to reduce them to a subhuman level is a way of exonerating them -- animals, after all, are not deemed morally responsible for killing. Insisting on the humanity of terrorists is, in fact, critical to maintaining their profound responsibility for the evil they commit.