Many of the so called “civilized countries” have abolished capital punishment,
the putting to death of a human being for committing a crime. The United States,
with our true belief that we are the moral high ground on an uncivilized planet, has
chosen to leave this form of punishment up to the individual states. Therefore, the
killing of a human being, in the name of the State, is still allowed in the United States.
Yet somehow, some believe our killing is just. This is even so when our
statistics prove that a black person is much more likely to get the death penalty, than
is a white person who commits a parallel crime. This is so even though the
“Innocence Project” has, by the use of DNA, proven that many on death row have
been wrongfully convicted and unfortunately, others have been wrongfully executed.
Nonetheless, there are many who champion the death penalty as good and just.
We have moved from a barbaric society in most states from the outdated and
outmoded electric chair, where those who watch actually get to see smoke coming
from the culprit’s body as he internally fries. We have moved away from the firing
squad as that too seems a mode of execution from bygone days. The same, of course,
can be said of the old gas chambers.
Now, because we are so civilized, we strap that condemned man or woman
(usually a man; we hate to do these things to women) to a gurney or table and inject
him with a cocktail of different drugs so that he can die peacefully and because we
are civilized. Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical companies that make drugs that
would accomplish this task have banned the use of these drugs for executions. This
has left a void where different states are now using different cocktails of drugs to
achieve the sedative effect, the lack of pain, and the stopping of breathing. As the
recent Arizona execution showed, this is a lot easier in concept than it is in reality.
Yes, two hours of writhing on a table in agony is hardly as humane as ISIS’ form of
execution beheading.
This brings us to the question of how we have now come to be involved in an
air war against ISIS. Somehow, with the help of CNN and the other news channels,
the beheading of 2 Americans has caused such outrage that the only response can and
should be a going to war against these heathens. People who would behead innocents
must be stopped. The question is, however, are we fighting them because 2
Americans were innocent of any wrong-doing and were put to death? Or are we
fighting them now because of their savagery in beheading? The answer, probably,
is a combination of both.
The fact that beheading was the form of execution certainly should not be a
reason for us to go to war, as we continually back and consider one of our closest
allies in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, who has beheaded almost 2 dozen prisoners
this year as a form of their execution. The fact that 2 Americans were killed certainly
would not cause us to go to war, in all places around the globe. After all, we have
had American citizens wrongfully imprisoned in North Korea, Iran, and a multitude
of other countries without even the contemplation that we would go to war.
The idea that ISIS must be curtailed now, as when and if it gets stronger it will
pose a threat to the United States, when analyzed, is a ridiculous concept. The threat
to the United States will not be from ISIS planes flying above our skies. Or from ISIS
troops on our ground. Rather, the threat from ISIS will be in the form of terrorists
committing acts on our homeland, while blending in with the rest of the country.
That threat has certainly existed since 9/11 and it doesn’t take an ISIS to make that
threat real. We have home-grown terrorists and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of
groups around the world that we view as terrorist organizations that pose this same
problem. Even a victory over ISIS will do nothing other than scatter these would-be
terrorists to other parts of the world, taking with them their ideology, which might
include the desire to harm this country.
No, the reason why we are going to war against ISIS is simple. In our eyes,
they are evil. No more evil than the aforementioned North Korea or Iran, or even
Bashar al-Assad, the leader of Syria, who we know, unfortunately, will be helping.
Their method of execution is no different than allies that we support in the region.
We are going to war against ISIS for two distinct reasons. The first is, that they want
us to. They have done everything to provoke us. By us going to war with them, they
have now made it to the big time. They will have thousands of true believers flocking
from all corners of the earth to join their Holy War now against the United States.
Using Western logic and basic concepts, it seems irrational that ISIS would
want to fight with the United States. We are the greatest power the world has ever
known. We can rain fire down on them from the sky. They can never beat us and
they know it.
However, using their logic and beliefs, it makes total sense. To us, death is the
ultimate travesty. To them, it is a glory sought and a gateway to heaven. They do not
fear death. To us, they cannot win. To them, they cannot lose. Taking on the
greatest infidel in the name of their distorted interpretation of their religion is victory
in and of itself.
Secondly, we are going to war against ISIS because they have played the
American media like a virtuoso. A year ago nobody knew of ISIS and today ISIS
consumes 20 minutes of every hour of the news channels broadcast. Again, they have
made it to the big time. They have caused themselves to be portrayed as the
reincarnation of evil in our eyes.
They have staged dramatic and timed executions for mass media consumption.
The footage of the decapitations or the mass gunning down of prisoners has not been
clandestinely smuggled to the West. Rather, it has been disseminated as part of their
propaganda. They have even published their own magazine. They have cast the hook
and the Western media has gobbled up the bait.
So without judging whether we should or should not be going to war against
ISIS, it just needs to be pointed out that injustices are done against Americans
throughout the world, with no repercussion from this country. We have actually done
the killing of human beings, even our own citizens, in fashions that are much more
painful than the fashion that ISIS chooses. Some of the people that we have killed
in this country who are our citizens have been innocent and did not deserve to die,
just like the two Americans beheaded by ISIS. We have friends that use this form of
capital punishment and we never complain or say a word of it.
Yet it needs to be understood that it may be shown in the future that the war
against ISIS was the most noble and worthwhile venture that this country has taken
up in years. It might be shown in the future that this war against ISIS was a big
mistake, one that could not be won without the proverbial boots on the ground.
Regardless, it needs to be understood that the First Amendment and Freedom of the
Press that we hold so dearly has been used by ISIS to drag us into this situation and
that this First Amendment that we love so dearly has used ISIS to sell newspapers and
to make sure those nightly news broadcasts are watched.