Nick Berg's Dad on the death of al-Zarqawi

[Ted]

I was listening to CNN this morning when they were talking about the killing of al-Zarqawi. They interviewed Nick Berg's Dad. If you remember, al-Zarqawi beheaded Berg with a dull knife on live tv. They asked his Dad if he was glad that al-Zarqawi was dead. Instead of saying that he was, which would have been a perfectly acceptable response, Nick Berg's Dad got really indignant. He said that he wasn't glad that al-Zarqawi was dead, how could someone be glad that anyone had been killed? He went on to talk about how al-Zarqawi's kids and family must feel horrible now, just like he felt when his son was killed. He said that he didn't want revenge and killing people never makes anything better and it's really bad that anyone is killing people in his name. Every other liberal person on tv such as Jon Stewart thought it was great and funny that al-Zarqawi had been blown to bits, and they didn't have a personal connection to al-Zarqawi's evil. Even the interviewer was stunned by his commitment to non-violence and his ability to empathize with people who hated him.

If you follow modern philosophy, this is a great example of Lawrence Kohlberg's "level 6" stage of moral development. I found it to be a really amazing position to take, and I hope that, if someday I'm in the same position I would be able to take such a compassionate view of the world. I know no one else will agree with me, but I found him very inspirational. So, way to go Nick Berg's Dad! Thank you.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/08/berg.interview/index.html

[Alias]

This coming from someone who's hair doubles as electroshock therapy, haha.

Gotta hand it to you, human social conditioning (in regards to their intelligence) is one of the most mysterious and interesting things influencing both their/our worlds. However I won't even pretend to understand anything more complicated then that, such as how ethics and moral understanding evolve from it, but it was nice to see a person with that kind of moral perception.

Oh, those crazy monkeys.