Monday, April 20, 2009

Killing us softly

My latest at the Center for a Stateless Society:

The [Waco] massacre evokes the memory of the Nazis' assault on the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943, the British army's attempt to disarm unruly colonists in 1775, and the Crusaders' firing of the Cathedral of St. Nazaire in Beziers in 1019 (the proximate event cited as inspiration for papal legate Arnaud Amalric's dictate: "Caedite eos! Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius" ("Kill them all; for the Lord knoweth them that are His").

The unfortunate truth, however, is that the Waco massacre was small potatoes in the scheme of things. It was distinguished by its raw brutality, by the fact that it took place in the glare of media attention, and by the fact that its perpetrators found themselves publicly accused of their crimes and compelled to attempt to justify their actions.

In fact, the state kills far more than 76 innocent men, women and children every day, day in and day out, year after year -- and those killings go, for the most part, not only unpunished but for all practical purposes unnoticed.


Click here for the full piece.

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