Monday, February 23, 2009

There is no need to humanise the inhumane

After the murder of James Bulger, John Major famously said that "We must condemn a little more, and understand a little less". The same could be said about the Islamists.

Calderdale Council (which borders the area where two of the 7/7 bombers lived) has come out with a new teaching pack for schools. The resource, called "Things Do Change", looks at life in multicultural Britain and the issues of extremism and terrorism. One module suggests students could prepare a presentation on the 7/7 bombings from the bombers' perspective.

The teaching pack had been recommended by government ministers as a way of addressing controversial issues, but the government have now withdrawn their support following the backlash. The government has now admitted the pack was "misguided and inappropriate".

It doesn't take a genius to realise that the moment you try and "understand" the motivations of suicide bombers, it doesn't take very long till you end up condoning and then justifying their actions. Suicide bombers are able to do what they do because they dehumanise their victims. They are inhumane people, and we shouldn't seek to humanise them.