The Violence Continues

Terrorist murderers kill 88 and wound 119, mostly Egyptians.

London Police kill innocent man.

It’s been a busy couple of days in the cycle of violence, and no good has been done for anyone. Of course lines can be drawn between mistakes, collateral damage and intentional massacre, but the bottom line is that innocent people have died, for no purpose, and to no ends, except an escalation of violence.

In the case of the terrorists who struck the Egyptian resort area, and killed mostly Egyptians, what is the desired outcome? To kill innocent people just for fun? To hurt the economy and rulers of Egypt? Perhaps the later is the desired outcome, but it won’t work. It is a flawed theory. Certainly there will be passing fear and a drop in tourism, but in the end, it certainly won’t be the oligarchs and powerful of Egypt who will suffer, it will be the common people.

Once again, the philosophy of violence requires the absence of reasoning. They have adopted violence as their tactic and their strategy; their belief is in violence; it is their philosophy. And this particular philosophy never works; simple reasoning and historical example shows this to be true.

In the case of the London Police mistakenly killing an innocent man, it is an entirely different situation, yet perhaps it is an acute example of the philosophy of violence, in that violence was the option taken. It was excessive, and it was somewhat random. There certainly wasn’t any hard evidence that the person posed a threat, either immediate or in the future.

In an earlier post calling for tighter containment of a few extreme examples of well known advocates of violent jihad, this caveat was included: “containing those who preach violence should be done in a civilized, controlled and rational manner”. While the circumstances of the killing of the innocent suspect were understandable and regrettable on all sides, the question remains as to whether it was controlled or rational. There is no doubt that the undercover officers believed that the person was a potential suicide bomber, and not just a preacher, but for that one person, it turned out to be a fatal misunderstanding. This kind of mistake will occur occasionally in day to day law enforcement, but under the glare of the current situation, let us hope that it does not provide fuel to the continuing fire. Unfortunately, the odds are slim that those who preach violence and terrorism will be understanding and sympathetic of the circumstances of this accident. No one expects them to be.