Sorry about my previous message. I'm using a friend's PC while
savouring the delights of the gently rolling hills of Herefordshire
(on
the border with Wales), and something went wrong.
On 21 August Rick Froman wrote:
Are there also cultures that think it is a good idea to welcome a
mass
murderer of innocent people home with the equivalent of a ticker tape
parade when they had agreed that they would basically bring him in
through the back door so he could compassionately spend his final
days
with his family?
To which Marie Helweg-Larsen responded:
I think that US and British officials *requested* a backdoor welcome.
Obviously that request was not granted. It is always shocking to
Americans
when other countries really don't care what the U.S. thinks or
requests.
Interesting that when the Libyans ignored a perfectly reasonable
request from the British Prime Minister, and US Government, that a man
found guilty of the terrorist murder of some hundreds of people should
not be given a hero's welcome home (out of concern that terrorists
should not celebrated, and no doubt, for the feelings of the bereaved
close relatives), that Marie should still find a way of putting the
Americans, and by implication the British government, in the wrong
rather than the Libyan regime. It is particularly abhorrent that some
in the welcoming crowd waved the Scottish flag. One might stop to
consider what must have been the feelings of relatives of those that
perished in Lockerbie on seeing their national flag besmirched in that
way.
"Now there is something of a backlash at home too, largely because of
the jubilant scenes in Tripoli when Mr al-Megrahi got home with crowds
waving flags, including Scottish ones, and cheering."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/
2009/08/090821_lockerbie_nh_sl.shtml
Downing Street has released the full text of the letter sent by Gordon
Brown to Gaddafi, in which the Prime Minister wished the Libyan leader
a happy Ramadan. The letter asked Gaddafi to 'act with sensitivity'
over Megrahi's homecoming: "A high-profile return would cause further
unnecessary pain for the families of the Lockerbie victims. It would
also undermine Libya's growing international reputation," Brown wrote.
Chris Green wrote:
On this particular case, I was astonished (well, not really) to hear
many
Americans (and a few Brits) ask rhetorically why this man should be
shown
any compassion because (if he indeed did it) he didn't show any
compassion
to those who were killed on the flight. Well, because I would think
that we
*want* to show more compassion than a cold-blooded mass murderer
(even to a mass murderer), that's why. It seems quite bizarre that we
would let our own moral sense be dictated by the moral sense of
someone
we have declared to be immoral.
I agree with Chris. But in the case of relatives of the victims of the
atrocity, I find myself unwilling to judge their anger at the decision
by the devolved Scottish government, as I have not lost a loved one
under such circumstances.
Mike Smith wrote:
I think we also need to remember that it wasn't "Europeans" or
"Brits"
or
the "Scots" who wanted the guy released. It was a single misguided
individual
imposing his will on everyone involved. Another case of Judicial fiat
by an
irresponsible individual who no doubt thinks he can create a better
world
by forcing his opinion on everyone else.
Mike, I presume you are referring to the Scottish Justice Secretary,
Kenny MacAskill. He wasn't imposing his will on everyone involved, he
came to decision that it was his responsibility to make on the
basis of
Scottish law and precedent. (I imagine that such an important decision
having international repercussions would not have been made without
consultation with the First Minister of the minority Scottish
Nationalist administration.)
Apparently the three other main parties in the Scottish parliament
have
expressed opposition to the decision:
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Lockerbie-bomber-
Megrahi-is-free.5572026.jp
Allen Esterson
Former Lecturer
Science Department
Southward College, London
www.esterson.org
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---------------------------------------------
From: Christopher D. Green <chri...@yorku.ca>
Subject: Re: The compassion of Braveheart
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:15:51 -0400
Partly it is because American public opinion has become increasingly
out of step with the rest of the "developed" world on so many
socio-political issues (education, government, crime, guns, drugs,
abortion, welfare, health, etc.) over the past 30 years, that American
attitudes are now just expected to be fairly "alien" and increasingly
irrelevant to parallel debates in other countries. (This is not to say
that American *should* line up with everyone else, just that they
*don't*, and haven't for such a long time that it is regarded as a
brute fact rather than a minor fluctuation on which there will
eventually be more accord.)
On this particular case, I was astonished (well, not really) to hear
many Americans (and a few Brits) ask rhetorically why this man should
be shown any compassion because (if he indeed did it) he didn't show
any compassion to those who were killed on the flight. Well, because I
would think that we *want* to show more compassion than a cold-blooded
mass murderer (even to a mass murderer), that's why. It seems quite
bizarre that we would let our own moral sense be dictated by the moral
sense of someone we have declared to be immoral.
Regards,
Chris Green
York U.
Toronto
---------------------------------------------------------------
From: Rick Froman <rfro...@jbu.edu>
Subject: RE: The compassion of Braveheart
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:58:59 -0500
Are there also cultures that think it is a good idea to welcome a mass
murderer
of innocent people home with the equivalent of a ticker tape parade
when they
had agreed that they would basically bring him in through the back
door
so he
could compassionately spend his final days with his family?
Rick
Dr. Rick Froman
rfro...@jbu.edu<mailto:rfro...@jbu.edu>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
---
----
From: Helweg-Larsen, Marie <helw...@dickinson.edu>
Subject: RE: The compassion of Braveheart
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:31:48 -0400
I think that US and British officials *requested* a backdoor welcome.
Obviously
that request was not granted.
It is always shocking to Americans when other countries really don't
care what
the U.S. thinks or requests.
Marie
----------------------------------------------------------------------
---
-----
From: Michael Smith <tipsl...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: The compassion of Braveheart
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:03:19 -0600
I think we also need to remember that it wasn't "Europeans" or "Brits"
or the "Scots" who wanted the guy released. It was a single misguided
individual imposing his will on everyone involved. Another case of
Judicial fiat by an irresponsible individual who no doubt thinks he
can
create a better world by forcing his opinion on everyone else.
--Mike
---
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