Post by jules on Jul 9, 2012 23:37:35 GMT 10
It appears a woman has been murdered in Afghanistan. Allegedly by the Taliban - it seems as a result of a falling out between two men who happened to Taliban members.
On the face of it this is an appalling crime, and I have no reason to suggest it is anything other than an appalling crime. Carried out by scumbags who appear to think its OK to treat women as commodities.
So anyway right now Alexander Pyne is on television speaking shit.
Firstly he recommends we make a recognition of the differences between moderate and extremist Taliban. Then he says Afghan refugees should stay at home cos we are there waging war in their country. if its good enough for us to fight there its good enough for them to stay.
Downer is a fuckwit. When he was foreign minister he meekly went along with the invasion of Iraq, despite the fact that this ultimately cost us in Afghanistan. If he had stood up and said words to the effect of lets do one job at a time and do it properly then there is a chance Afghanistan may have resembled a functioning state today. Instead he was part of a govt that lied to us to get us into an illegal war.
(He also has the nerve to say "we took refugees and looked after them." And fails to mention a couple of things wrt Clive Palmer and his own lobbying interests.)
Nice to see hard hitting interviews of Liberals on Lateline. (Well? It would be nice to see that - let me know if it ever happens.)
Thats not what this thread is about tho.
Global chorus of outrage after Afghan woman executed by Taliban for adultery
One murder by the Taliban, tho they have done a few. And nothing about the hundreds of civillians killed by coalition troops. Or the hundreds killed by drones in Pakistan. Admittedly its not quite the same thing.
Unless its someone you know or love - then they're dead. Senselessly killed by people supposedly defending freedom.
We hear sweet FA about this carnage inflicted on people we're sposed to be helping. Thats not that surprising tho.
What I find surprising about this is the outrage apparantly exists cos the murder was shown on TV. The Taliban have executed women foradultery no good reason more than once in the last couple of years, but the outrage surrounding this murder appears to be more about the fact that video was posted online, not that it actually happened. There is no mention of the other similar murders by the Taliban in recent years in the news ltd story linked above. Obviously they don't care too much about them. (Also they don't mention that the husband who killed his wife appears to be acting under duress, in that he fired 2 shots from point blank range and missed both. lets hope he had at least that much humanity about him.)
It seems to me that what has really inspired this horror and outrage is that we have to witness it. Not that it actually happened, but that it has disturbed our lives. (Similar outrage accompanied the shooting documented in the Collateral Murder shooting publicised by wikileaks.) That our kids might see it on the internet and suddenly be reminded of what war is - people being killed and having their lives snuffed out in an instant. Otherwise why the silence on the earlier taliban killings in 2010 and 2011? - they were just as outrageous and disgusting.
It was the graphic recognition of this in Vietnam - the first TV war - that fueled so much anti war sentiment. That was the last time the actual consequences of war were made available too.
The truth of war is brutal and horrible to behold yet it seems if we actually see this in our media people lose their shit.
On the face of it this is an appalling crime, and I have no reason to suggest it is anything other than an appalling crime. Carried out by scumbags who appear to think its OK to treat women as commodities.
So anyway right now Alexander Pyne is on television speaking shit.
Firstly he recommends we make a recognition of the differences between moderate and extremist Taliban. Then he says Afghan refugees should stay at home cos we are there waging war in their country. if its good enough for us to fight there its good enough for them to stay.
Downer is a fuckwit. When he was foreign minister he meekly went along with the invasion of Iraq, despite the fact that this ultimately cost us in Afghanistan. If he had stood up and said words to the effect of lets do one job at a time and do it properly then there is a chance Afghanistan may have resembled a functioning state today. Instead he was part of a govt that lied to us to get us into an illegal war.
(He also has the nerve to say "we took refugees and looked after them." And fails to mention a couple of things wrt Clive Palmer and his own lobbying interests.)
Nice to see hard hitting interviews of Liberals on Lateline. (Well? It would be nice to see that - let me know if it ever happens.)
Thats not what this thread is about tho.
Global chorus of outrage after Afghan woman executed by Taliban for adultery
One murder by the Taliban, tho they have done a few. And nothing about the hundreds of civillians killed by coalition troops. Or the hundreds killed by drones in Pakistan. Admittedly its not quite the same thing.
Unless its someone you know or love - then they're dead. Senselessly killed by people supposedly defending freedom.
We hear sweet FA about this carnage inflicted on people we're sposed to be helping. Thats not that surprising tho.
What I find surprising about this is the outrage apparantly exists cos the murder was shown on TV. The Taliban have executed women for
It seems to me that what has really inspired this horror and outrage is that we have to witness it. Not that it actually happened, but that it has disturbed our lives. (Similar outrage accompanied the shooting documented in the Collateral Murder shooting publicised by wikileaks.) That our kids might see it on the internet and suddenly be reminded of what war is - people being killed and having their lives snuffed out in an instant. Otherwise why the silence on the earlier taliban killings in 2010 and 2011? - they were just as outrageous and disgusting.
It was the graphic recognition of this in Vietnam - the first TV war - that fueled so much anti war sentiment. That was the last time the actual consequences of war were made available too.
The truth of war is brutal and horrible to behold yet it seems if we actually see this in our media people lose their shit.