The late Muamar Gadhafi
I expressed dismay yesterday evening on Facebook, at the very public showing of the deceased Ghadafi’s picture on the airwaves.
I stated that death, is not something to celebrate.
Even of an evil man.
Some disagreed with me, and it caused quite a comment chain.
Imagine my surprise today, to find that I was not the only one who expressed displeasure, in fact, there is a name for the behavior.
It is named “Ceausescu” behavior, after a Romanian communist leader and his wife who were executed and whose pictures were distributed freely.
Robert Windrem, NBC News’ senior investigative producer wrote an article about it.
Public dishonor of fallen leaders corpses a time-tested tradition.
http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/21/8432259-public-dishonor-of-fallen-leaders-corpses-a-time-tested-tradition?threadId=3251596&commentId=59217995#c59217995
I commented on the article, writing:
“Of the multiple countries on this planet, I think five is not a large enough number to give the article a title that implies tradition.
It would more aptly have been titled, Why Some Countries Find It Necessary To Torture its Leaders.
Or, Why Some Nations Take Pleasure in the Exploitation and Destruction of its Leaders’ Cadavers.”
Of the five stories in the article, three of the people groups that dishonored the corpses were in Middle Eastern Countries, Iraq and Afghanistan.
They were also the worst – the most tortuous killings.
Even a swift bullet taking human life is violent, but it it was apparent that simply executing someone was not enough for some cultures.
The Taliban had no qualms whatsoever about being insidiously violent.
In Iraq, in the late 1950s one leader’s body was dug up (by whom, there was no mention) and destroyed even further.
But these things should not be!
There is something to be said about a people that dispose of a dead body properly.
It is a reflection on the living, not the deceased. There is a nobility, even an efficiency in it, and why so many (as the article written by Windrem stated) took great pleasure in staring at the face of death and mutilating a body that has already begun to decompose is beyond my comprehension.
When I expressed dismay last night on Facebook, it was because I believed we were a noble people, that did not “enjoy” the visage of death, yet for some reason, it flooded our media all day. This bewildered me.
Because of this, I am beginning to wonder…
Are we?
Are we still that noble people?
We all drive slowly past accident scenes, craning our necks to see what happened.
That is an unfortunate part of our human nature. Understandable.
But there was no reason to exploit Gadhafi’s face like that.
It is feasible that many would want proof that it was really Gadhafi, especially after Osama Ben Ladin’s “burial at sea”.
(yes, I am rolling my eyes and my voice does indeed have a “tone”.)
But even while demanding proof, we are still a people that are saddened by death, even the justified death of an evil person, aren’t we?
I choose to hold my position that death, even the death of an evil man, is no thing to celebrate by the citizens of America.
In this nation, when someone dies, we cover their face because there is a grief, no matter how finite, that accompanies that death.
No matter how deserved it was, and even if justice is being carried out, we cover everyone’s face – without exception.
Everyone’s face.
Even of an evil man.