Euan mentioned a conversation he had with another blogger who was deeply disturbed by the images of Nick Berg’s execution. He then made an observation:
I know I have written about this before but yet again I was struck that, bizarrely, I have at least as much compassion for the perpetrators of such acts as their victims.
With any luck, until their untimely death, the victims will have had happy, joyous lives and inhabited a world of love and relationship. Yes they have died a horrible death but now it is over. The perpetrators on the other hand must exist in a world of absolute horror, terror and alienation and their living hell continues.
It is inconceivable to me to inhabit a world where such acts of cold blooded cruelty are OK and I find myself feeling for sorry for people who have created such a living hell for themselves.
I can, abstractly and intellectually, align myself with his position. Having seen the video of the murder, however, I am a long way from feeling it in my soul. Still, it seems worthwhile to attempt, or at least consider.
These images are selected by the media as content for consumption by eyeballs, the more the better so as to charge more for the advertising. I am not moved either way because of this manipulation, because I am aware that approximately 1 million other human souls died that same day, (and the day after, and the day after, and today) no doubt most in painful, tragic circumstances. What about them? If we are going to reach out in compassion for the cold sonofabitch who beheaded Berg, who did not die, what about the others who did? Sheesh. I am not impressed by that kind of compassion.