{"id":493,"date":"2010-02-09T17:50:46","date_gmt":"2010-02-09T17:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2010\/02\/a-meditation-on-waterboarding-4-year-olds.html"},"modified":"2010-02-09T17:50:46","modified_gmt":"2010-02-09T17:50:46","slug":"a-meditation-on-waterboarding-4-year-olds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/02\/a-meditation-on-waterboarding-4-year-olds.html","title":{"rendered":"A Meditation On Waterboarding 4 Year Olds"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/b><\/p>\n

The recent water boarding of a
\nfour year old<\/a> by her father because she was not cooperative in reciting her ABCs. He is a soldier who had served in
\nIraq.  <\/span>This event is sad commentary
\non a creeping American moral nihilism. 
\n<\/span>Nihilism is a failure to truly believe in basic precepts such as
\nkindness, compassion, and love. 
\n<\/span>Sociopaths are nihilists, but so are increasing numbers of Americans who
\nare not.  <\/span>Some “believe” in these
\nvalues, but will not go to bat for them. 
\n<\/span>Others don’t even go that far. 
\n<\/span>Power and wealth are oh so much more real. They can hold Wealth in their
\nhands and Power – just watch people cringe and bow when you have it.  <\/span>Of course, then Power and Wealth own
\nyou far more securely than you own them.  <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

When President Bill Clinton was
\ncriticized for setting a bad moral example because he fooled around with Monica
\nLewinsky, I thought it would be a poor parent who looked to the President for
\nmoral guidance in raising their child. 
\n<\/span>There were plenty of hypocrites,
\nDemocratic and Republican alike. 
\n<\/span>John Edwards<\/a>, he of the secret child and sex tape, said “I think
\nthis president has shown a remarkable disrespect for his office, for the moral
\ndimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious
\ndaughter. It is breathtaking to me the level to which that disrespect has
\nrisen.”  <\/span>I thought these arguments  were stupid, and as it turns out in many cases hypocritical.  <\/span>Applied to adults these arguments are<\/i> stupid, but I now
\nthink they had a point despite themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nPresident does contribute to the moral sense of his times.  <\/span>A goodly number of Americans apparently
\nthink in hierarchical formats.  
\n<\/span>Good and bad or, more complexly, a pecking order where they are happy so
\nlong as others are below them. <\/span>If Alpha Dog or Alpha Baboon doesn’t
\nobject, it must be OK.  <\/span>These are
\nthe people who call the President our “Commander in Chief,” which he is not.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bush
\nshowed that immorality, like fish rot, can spread rapidly when it starts at the
\ntop and people have this attitude. 
\n<\/span>Some parents apparently really do need a President to give them a good
\nexample in living, an example they are incapable of accomplishing by
\nthemselves.  <\/span><\/span>Not all
\nparents, of course.  <\/span>I know many
\nwho are genuine adults, with a strong enough character not to need such
\ninstruction.  <\/span>But I may have been
\nwrong for those who think and live in terms of their position in hierarchies. <\/p>\n

Among his many unexpected failures
\nof leadership, Barack Obama has failed to take a strong moral stand against
\ntortures such as waterboarding when done by people hired by the
\ngovernment.  <\/span>He and his government have
\ndone what they could, which is quite a bit, to protect the criminals who
\ntortured and murdered in our name. 
\n<\/span>Let us move on, he says, and put that stuff behind us.  <\/span>I wonder how effective that argument
\nwould have been at Nuremburg? “The war is over.  <\/span>Let’s let bygones be bygones.”  <\/p>\n

“OK, you can go home now.”<\/p>\n

But for citizens of weak
\ncharacter, if it is not illegal, it must be OK.  Along the way our <\/span>entire culture is degraded<\/a>.  <\/span>If water boarding is not torture, then perhaps it is an
\nacceptable means for disciplining children.<\/p>\n

Some people who once said “unlike
\nRussian communists, Americans do not torture” have shifted to saying torture is
\nnecessary, or that what is torture when done by others is not torture when done
\nby Americans.  <\/span>Or perhaps it’s no
\nworse than a fraternity prank.  <\/span>I
\nguess that’s true in a way.  <\/span>Sometimes
\npeople die in fraternity pranks. 
\n<\/span>Then we wonder when weak minded or mentally injured people take this
\nreasoning seriously, and bring it home to their child rearing.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/b> Evidence of the utter failure of Obama’s “moral leadership” can be found here in figures of rising support<\/a> among Americans for torture.  A pathetic group of bedwetting citizens who have abandoned the principles this country was founded on.  I am ashamed to be part of such a society.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATE The recent water boarding of a four year old by her father because she was not cooperative in reciting her ABCs. He is a soldier who had served in Iraq.  This event is sad commentary on a creeping American moral nihilism.  Nihilism is a failure to truly believe in basic precepts such as kindness, compassion, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"yoast_head":"\nA Meditation On Waterboarding 4 Year Olds - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/02\/a-meditation-on-waterboarding-4-year-olds.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Meditation On Waterboarding 4 Year Olds - 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