I am so sorry to inflict this upon you all, but I need to let off a bit of steam about what happened in Woolwich yesterday.
Firstly I must say that this is one of the most devastating and horrific acts of violence against a soldier seen in this country in recent times. Though it must be stressed that things not too unlike this happen A LOT, particularly in London. What I will write below in no way means to belittle the situation, I just think it is time people opened their eyes and saw the bigger picture.
I will explain why I need the rant and why I am posting here (where relatively few people will see it) rather than to its target audience. It is because I am really angry at the ignorance that a lot of my Facebook friends are showing towards the situation and the state of the World in general. Two comments in particular have made me feel quite cross:
Comment 1: '... I don't see why they were bloody taken to hospital, they should have been hung (
!) in the street there and then to make an example of them.'Comment 2: '... It makes me sick people saying it isn't a specific religion, it is one person... You don't see mulslims (
!) going around hacking each other up. Get a grip people these sickos should be executed.'So I am desperate to post my views and tell these two people how incredibly thick, ignorant and arrogant they are; but I can't. We all know what Facebook is like, so I am posting here instead! Secretly hoping that nobody will really read it.
Finally before I start the rant proper I will say that these are my views and whilst I obviously think they are correct, it doesn't mean that they are. If anyone is offended by them then I apologise, but a world without free speech and the ability to express your opinion is a terrifying one.
This brings me nicely to what I feel so cross about. I will try to keep it short:
1. Executing, or hunging (
) them in the street only serves to give them what they want. They were hoping to be shot and killed so other radical Muslims could protest and justify doing something much worse because the police shot and killed their 'brothers'. They were hoping to become the next in a long line of Muslim martyrs 'defending what they believe in', why else hang around for so long? In addition to that we are not a country that kills people for killing someone else, that is not the way to deal with this kind of behaviour. If I had murdered someone and I had a choice between being executed and being locked in a dark cell for the rest of my life with no contact with the outside world I know which one I would choose...2. This was done to get a reaction, to get everyone all riled up. The sad thing is that people should already be all riled up about the reason troops are in Afghanistan in the first place. In many of the Muslim countries there is a politically fuelled religious war waging which has continued for almost as long as religion has existed.
3. Bringing me nicely to my final point about comment 2 about Mulslims (
) not killing other mulslims ( ). THEY DO! Particularly women. Awful things happen in these countries, one of them is even becoming a popular holiday destination (Dubai), and yet people turn a blind eye. People are tortured, whipped, burned, have parts of their bodies amputated, and beheaded EVERY SINGLE DAY; all in the name of 'God'. Someone wrote (in the 'Holy Book) that women cannot show their ankles in public, a woman who does is publicly whipped and often beheaded to make an example of her. Yet people are still getting riled up about how awful the Muslims are to our soldiers, people who CHOOSE to do their jobs. I really wish people would open their eyes to see the bigger picture. Whilst they're getting cross about things like this, those in power in Muslim countries can continue on their merry way torturing or killing anyone who stands in their way because it is 'God's' will. If we started kicking off about crimes against humanity, rather than crimes against UK soldiers maybe we could finally begin to bring an end to it.
Religion has no place in politics and should not be used to justify torturing, or murdering innocent people by those in power. A world governed by religion is a scary place, and we are just letting it happen.
Sorry for the essay. I will no doubt delete it later once I have calmed down. Its just the ignorance that annoys me so much, the world doesn't revolve around us we really need to do something to help those who cannot help themselves rather than turn a blind eye.
This guy is insane.