Stardate 20010927.1051 (On Screen): I don't know. Apparently a lot of people were deeply moved by this piece from
The Onion. At least one web logger I read regularly linked to it, and I received email from someone about it. It didn't do anything for me, though. I don't think it's all that good of writing, and anyway it doesn't square with the Old Testament account of God. This God, who says "Never kill anyone at any time under any circumstances", supposedly; isn't this the one who took out the Firstborn of Egypt and levelled the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah and killed everyone living there, and turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt, and dropped the walls of Jericho so the Israelites could slaughter the inhabitants? And who answered Samson's prayers to regain his strength so he could destroy a temple and kill everyone in it? And who seemed to bless interminable wars in which the Philistines got smited? (Seems like there was a lot of "smiting" going on in the Old Testament, actually.) And I seem to remember a story about David and a sling. Sorry, the God described in the Onion document isn't the God of the Old Testament; it's simply a thinly disguised opportunity for modern pacifists to speak
ex cathedra. (It's also close to being blasphemous.)
In a sense, they're on the side of the angels here. I would like it if there was a way to get through this without anyone else getting killed, myself. But I don't believe that's possible. It's no longer a question of whether people will die, it's now only an issue of who they will be. If by killing some of our enemies we can keep some of our own people safe, then that is what I think we should do. If we do not do that then we sacrifice our own, and I think that is wrong. Our enemies have set the ground rules; we can only play by them. (discuss)
