Monday, November 9: The Scribbler
JUSTIFYING MURDER
by James Lincoln Warren
Mass murderers always seem to justify their heinous and insane acts by claiming that they are performed for the greater good. Adolf Hitler believed he was saving civilization from the Jews. Timothy McVeigh famously wore a tee-shirt emblazoned with a quote from Thomas Jefferson: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Last week, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was heard to cry the takbir, “Allahu akbar!” (“God is great!”), as he murdered his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood.
Terrorism is usually defined as a crime against the innocent intended to instill fear and influence authority. So when the mass murder is actually perpetrated by the authorities, as it was by the Nazis, it is not technically terrorism.
It is something much, much worse.
Here’s something I find disturbing. It’s a tee-shirt intended to be witty and threatening.
In case you don’t recognize the image, the skull is wearing the maroon beret worn by U.S. Army Airborne Divisions. It is superimposed over paratroopers’ jump wings, although I do not recognize the insigne on the hat’s crown. It is obviously not official, but it is just as obvious intended to epitomize the attitude of government Special Forces.
The legend, though, isn’t at all modern, although it was famously used as an album title by the heavy metal rock band Metallica. The phrase has a shameful history.
In thirteenth century southern France, a heresy known as Catharism gained a tenacious hold on the populace. (Those of you who have read Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose may recall that it played a part in the mystery.) Catharism was a dualistic religious doctrine that believed in two gods: an evil, materialistic one, and a good spiritualistic one. Because the Roman Catholic Church taught that Jesus was a material manifestation of God, the heresy was considered incompatible with orthodox Christianity. So the Church declared war on the Cathars, and for twenty years persecuted them in unbelievably bloody fashion in what was called the Albigensian Crusade (after the name of one of the Cathar towns).
The Cathars had become firmly entrenched in Béziers, a fortified town in Languedoc Province. The city was sacked by the Crusaders on July 22, 1209. The leader of the Roman Catholic forces was Abbot Arnauld Amaury, abbot of Cîteaux, and a Papal Legate.
The story is told by Caesarius of Heisterbach in a book called Dialogue on Visions and Miracles (Dialogus magnus visionum ac miraculorum), published over a decade later.
Cognoscentes ex confessionibus illorum catholicos cum haereticis esse permixtos, dixerunt Abbati: Quid faciemus, domine? Non possumus discernere inter bonos et malos. Timens tam Abbas quam reliqui, ne tantum timore mortis se catholicos simularent, et post ipsorum abcessum iterum ad perfidiam redirent, fertur dixisse: Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.
“When they discovered, from the admissions of some of them, that there were Catholics mingled with the heretics they said to the abbot ‘Sir, what shall we do, for we cannot distinguish between the faithful and the heretics.’ The abbot, like the others, was afraid that many, in fear of death, would pretend to be catholics, and after their departure, would return to their heresy, and is said to have replied ‘Kill them all for the Lord knoweth them that are His.’ ”
There is scriptural support for Abbot Amaury’s position concerning God’s omniscience, if not for the massacre itself:
Sed firmum fundamentum Dei stetit habens signaculum hoc cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius et discedat ab iniquitate omnis qui nominat nomen Domini.
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” —2 Timothy 2:19
And thus is God given as a justification for mass murder of the innocent. Of course, I find the mass murder of the “guilty” just as reprehensible, but the most frightening part is the unfathomable callousness of the decision to put every man, woman, and child to the sword purely out of possible association. It is precisely the same attitude that was incarnated on 9/11.
The death of every human being in Béziers in 1209 was not a fantasy or a joke. It is a fact, as real as My Lai or Babi Yar.
And this is what some Americans wear on a tee-shirt, thinking it’s cool?
It’s evil.
The only ones I’ve seen wear the tee-shirt are very, very young OR already involved in some sort of cultlike group. I’ve never seen it worn by military persons. I have seen the tee-shirt for sale in ads in magazines like Soldier of Fortune. And, oh yes, though I have thumbed through a few copies myself, I am not a subscriber. I do like to keep abreast of what the population is reading. It aids in developing diverse characters because I don’t always write about the white hat wearing guys. There are a lot of messages on clothing I’ve seen people wear in public that make me wonder about them and what their mother would think, but we are a free nation and that means even the weirdos have the freedom to wear such items. Thank goodness it’s usually barred from schools, etc.
Freedom of speech and expression are the greatest of freedoms America has had. I am horrified by what happened on a boot camp for deployment and return by a man who counseled and directed.
What I find disturbing is we’ve been cattled and prodded into a “be nice” “we can’t hurt feelings” society.
Therefore a breeding ground for such t-shirts as you’ve posted.
Well, my feelings are hurt. I want justice. And if he has to be waterboarded, I say fine. I get a form waterboarding when I get my cavities filled. It’s a part of keeping the rot from growing.
I know many won’t agree and as Deborah said, this is America. You don’t have to agree!
The cavities are growing and I’m just ready for the fillings to be set by justice.
I enjoyed your article.
It is a helluva note when we are not safe and unarmed on an Army base.
I do agree with that T shirt in that God will sort ’em out. I just can’t go the route suggested.
The answer?
Hmmmmmmm….what IS the answer.
Waterboarding is torture. Torture is inherently evil. The U.S. has prosecuted and convicted enemy forces for war crimes because they used waterboarding. Comparing it to having a cavity filled while under anaesthesia is trivializing an inhuman act to the point of incredulity.
The entire point of my article was that evil acts cannot be justified by any “higher purpose”. Abbot Amaury was angry, too.
Major Hasan’s betrayal of his country, his service, his profession, and any sense of human decency surpasses comprehension. My father is a retired service psychiatrist who specialized in treating PTSD. If any non-victim should feel outrage, it is he. But vengeance is not the same thing as justice. I respectfully commend Romans 12:19 to your attention.
James, the best compliment I can give you is your explanation/essay wouldn’t fit on a t-shirt and it says too much that is good not trendy.
Again, JLW, you allow opinions….your own!
I respectfully disagree. However, I shall get the hell out of dodge by doing so.
You get drugs when you get your cavity filled?
I must be wonder woman.
While it may not be PC, I see no similar condemnation for Che or Mao T-shirts which if anything are more popular.
You didn’t see a defense of them either, and I don’t see why you think they should have been included—Mao and Che aren’t American soldiers.
As it happens, though, I agree with you, and the thoughtless morons who wear such tee-shirts, unless they are devoted revolutionary Communists, are as insensitive to history as the pimply teen or wannabe mercenary who wears the faux Ranger tee-shirt. Although I don’t think I’ve seen a Mao tee-shirt in thirty years, Che has had a recent resurgence.