Justifying murder
Scott Roeder and the Neocons share the core conviction that they're justified in initiating violence as they deem necessary. It's interesting to compare how their reasoning tracks.
First, they smear their target as a Nazi:
Saddam:
In a speech to students on the eve of a two-day NATO summit, Mr Bush compared the challenge of the Iraqi President to the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, which led to World War II.
"Ignoring dangers or excusing aggression may temporarily avert conflict, but they don't bring true peace," he said.
Tiller:
Someone using the name Scott Roeder posted comments about Tiller on anti-abortion Web sites, including one that referred to the doctor as the "concentration camp Mengele of our day" - a reference to the Nazi doctor who performed ghastly medical experiments on Jews and others at Auschwitz.
Second, they convince themselves, and as many others as necessary, that their noble goal is to save innocent lives:
Saddam:
"Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering danger. … The first time we may be completely certain he has a -- nuclear weapons is when, God forbids, he uses one." George W. Bush, lying to the United Nations
Tiller:
Dave Leach, publisher of the magazine Prayer and Action News, said he met Roeder about 15 years ago. A decade ago, Roeder subscribed to the quarterly magazine, which is published in Iowa and has said "justifiable homicide" against abortion providers can be supported, Leach said.
"Scott is not my hero in that sense; he has not inspired me to shoot an abortionist," Leach said in an e-mail. "But definitely, he will be the hero to thousands of babies who will not be slain because Scott sacrificed everything for them."
And thus, in the mind of the self-appointed guardian of the oppressed, the guardian's boundless goodness and his target's unending evil require immediate, violent action.
It doesn't take much reflection to realize almost anyone or any nation could be targeted with this kind of egomaniacal thinking. The only difference between Roeder and the killers in DC is that Roeder's been arrested.
posted by Old Rebel @ Tuesday, June 02, 2009
2 Comments
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2 Comments:
"The only difference between Roeder and the killers in DC is that Roeder's been arrested."
I have to disagree with you here. This is definitely not the ONLY difference between the DC elite and Roeder. While I agree that the neo-cons have an annoying tendency to label anyone who disagrees with them as a "Nazi" (just watch Ben Stein's "Expelled" where he tries to link evolution to Nazism), I don't understand where you're going with this Tiller business.
I don't condone murder but I have trouble finding any sympathy for Tiller. No one with a soul could do what he did for a living. Because of an incoherent decision by the unelected Supreme Court, states are now required to permit abortion regardless of the views of state citizens. At least with slavery, states had a right to forbid the practice within their state. Like I said, I don't condone murder, but I can understand how people like Roeder can be drawn to violence when their political voice has been taken away.
Anonymous,
Where I'm going with this is simple: With all the liberal outrage about how everyone in the pro-life movement is responsible for Tiller's murder, we shouldn't overlook a ruling elite that claims the right to initiate violence for "noble" reasons. That mindset has clearly poisoned our society.
That's all -- no sympathy toward Tiller or his actions implied.
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