|
Evil
and 9/11
Editor:
In his latest book, The Science of Good & Evil, Skeptic
Magazine publisher Michael Shermer suggests that the 9/11 terrorist
attacks might somehow be justifiable. He should issue a public apology
for trying to minimize the evil of these actions and
ignoring the human pain they caused.
On
page 81, Mr. Shermer writes: "September 11, 2001, comes to
mind here. United States President George W. Bush described what
happened that day as an act of pure evil. Yet millions of people
around the world celebrate that day as a triumphant victory over
what they perceive to be an evil American culture. What we are witnessing
here is not a conceptual difference in understanding the true nature
of evil. Nor is it simply a matter of who is in the right. It is,
at least on one important level, a difference of perspective. To
achieve true understanding and enlightenment it might help to understand
what the other side was thinking."
Does
the moral blameworthiness of the 9/11 murders really depend on the
rise and fall of foreign public opinion polls measuring America's
popularity?
Our
jury system rests on the realization that the average reasonable
person has the ability to objectively know that crimes such as rape,
torture, and murder are evil rather than good. The crimes against
humanity that took place on 9/11 are also evil in the eyes of God--despite
Shermer's denial of the existence of any God above and beyond the
mystical force of Darwinian evolution.
Regardless
of the nationality or the delusions of a terrorist, the intentional
mass murder of thousands of innocent civilians is wrong. Will listing
every delusion held by Tim McVeigh ever make his crimes less vicious
or bring his victims (whom McVeigh compared to anonymous Star Wars
"storm troopers") back to life?
Mr.
Shermer should be ashamed of defending terrorists who killed thousands
of innocents in the name of God. Will any of us really move closer
to what Mr. Shermer calls "enlightenment" if we join him
in dismissing the 9/11 mass murders as a "difference of perspective"?
Mike
Thompson
Email
the Editor
|
