New video evidence below shows Maummar Gadhafi was alive after being seized in the operation that led to his capture. What I find rather disconcerting is the treatment of this video by the media, which covered the “joy” and “celebration” of the event while ignoring the shocking abuse of a wounded man and then the parading and stripping of this corpse. We were appalled when militants paraded the bodies of Americans in Somalia and Iraq. Yet, when it is someone we hate, it barely draws mention while newspapers taunt the dead man as being pulled “from a stinking drain.”
Following the killing, President Obama took to the air to herald the victory and a “future . . . of dignity.”
We long denounced Gadhafi on this blog. However, the treatment of Gadhafi below should shock the conscience. Only this morning did I see a brief story on CNN interviewing a man on how he felt about the way Gadhafi died. The thrust however was not about the abuse but the lost opportunity of a trial.
Instead of addressing the abuse of a wounded man and later a corpse, CNN and other outlets simply warned about graphic images and focused on Libyans firing weapons (including heavy machine guns) into the air (a moronic form of celebration that led to the wounding of various civilians).
We previously discussed the discomfort of watching Americans dancing and celebrating the shooting of Bin Laden. The media again did not dare to question the propriety of such displays despite the condemnation of the same displays in other countries after the 9-11 attacks.
Because human rights groups have called for an investigation and raised the question of whether he was shot in the head after capture, CNN and other news outlets are raising the question this morning. CNN’s anchor notes this morning that “some people” may find the parading of the body again this morning (including being struck by shoes as a sign of contempt) “might not be respectful.”
This video should shock the conscience and the story should be not the celebration but the crime depicted in this video.
Here is my warning: the video below is graphic and shows the abuse of a wounded man and corpse as a form of celebration. Human beings will find this video disgusting.
Why was Gadaffi such a brutal dictator? Because he was ruling a brutal country. Anyone who thinks democracy will work in places like Libya, Iraq and Syria want their heads testing. Its either a an Islamic Caliphate or a socialist dictatorship – Western secular liberalism won’t get a look in sideways. Why – because for western secular liberalism to work -it needs a large middleclass – which none of these countries have.
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I saw a headline that said the Libyan people had administered “rough justice.” The headline is absurd, in my opinion. None of this is about justice, of course. There are plenty of situations — both the grand ones that play out in the world arena and are covered (often hideously) by the international media, and the little ones that play out in our little worlds and our little families and that receive nobody’s attention except the victims and, on occasion, the prps — where JUSTICE CANNOT be done. Where Justice. CAN. NOT. BE. DONE. Of course the Qaddafi situation was one of those where, obviously, justice could not be done. Neither was his torment by the angry mob enough punishment nor was it justified by “justice” in any sense of the word. How many times, actually, could you hang Eichmann? So the issue is not whether it was “justice” or, if it was designated “justice” by a headline writer, whether it could be blessed as a form of “rough justice.” In fact, “rough justice,” like “quite unique,” is nonsensical per se.
What was done to Qaddafi hurt and killed that man and of course, “karmically” hurt and part-killed those who did it. But WHO hurt and part-killed those who watched that video or, by proxy, even those who have been affected by that video even though they did not watch it (like me)?
Those who do not do justice and who do not strive to do it.
Those who define “justice” as whatever makes them feel better after they are feeling bad.
Those who define “justice” as a feeling that the person to whom it was administered (Qaddafi yes, but before him — Todd Willingham, Marie-Antoinette, Denmark Vesey, Eli Cohen, Mussolini, Daniel Perl, millions of others in millions of other circumstances including but not limited to the Holocaust) certainly had it coming to [him][her][them].
I just don’t get it. These media reports really hurt me. I never even MET a Libyan since 1969 when I worked as a waitress in the Hotel St. Regis in Detroit and one of the busboys there was a Libyan student. Jeez, he could have been one of Qaddafi’s victims or he could have been one of Qaddafi’s killers. (I remember him because he liked to eat a whole bowl-ful of tobasco sauce with a spoon!) Still, these media reports really hurt ME.