Need a definition of evil? Try this one.
Sunday, November 2nd, 2008Ophelia Benson writes:
So. A child of 13 and her father try to tell the authorities that she was raped by three men, and the authorities in response arrest her, order up a truckload of stones, bury her in the ground up to her neck, gather a crowd of a thousand people, and throw the truckload of stones at her head.
It’s hard to figure out what’s going on in the heads of people like that. It’s not just violent lashing out - it’s religious legal official punishment - carried out in cold blood and the pure odor of sanctity. It’s hard to figure that out. What kind of monster do they think they worship, that wants children smashed to death with rocks for being raped? What kind of hideous loathsome savage bloodthirsty tyrannical cruel monster do they imagine wants them to act like that? What kind of nightmare world do they live in? How do they look on their work and approve it?
To anyone who might be thinking that incredible thought “But who are we to judge others’ culture?”, I suggest you put the question to the 13 year old victim. Let’s ask her whether or not she thinks others have the right and/or duty to question the practice. Oh hang on, we can’t. She’s been brutally murdered.