William Calley? I first thought of Manson but Shwa, your post forced me to start this thread.In a blur, yes. But Mohammed Atta is more like William Calley, don't you think?
Maybe Calley is a better example. And maybe I should start a poll...
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Charles Manson organized others to kill innocent people and by all accounts, Manson is certifiably crazy. Mohammed Atta was part of an organization and he killed innocent people too. Atta is now dead so we don't know whether he was crazy.
In the West, we have mixed opinions about these two men. They both killed innocent people but in the West, we say that Manson was crazy whereas Atta was a (fanatical) Muslim. In the West, we tend to give attention to Atta's purpose in his actions. We give no attention to the writings/opinions of Manson - except when he carves his forehead.
I suppose my thread should really ask whether we should pay attention to Atta, or Manson. Manson is crazy. Maybe Atta is too.
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Recently in Quebec, a jury found a man charged with killing his children (Guy Turcotte) innocent, because he was "crazy".
When members of a Muslim family drowned, some people were quick to draw conclusions: is the family crazy? Or Muslim?
This seems strange to me. We in the West excuse the horrific behaviour of our own people saying that they are "crazy". But when foreigners engage in similar behaviour, we say that they are evil, fanatical.
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1) Charles Manson is in jail and William Calley spent time in jail. Atta is dead.
2) Were they crazy? Manson, definitely. Calley and Atta, I dunno.
3) Atta killed random people abroad. Manson killed random people at home. Calley, we don't know. Maybe the conclusion is that lunatics kill people at home but truly, dangerous crazy fanatics kill abroad.
Edited by August1991, 25 July 2011 - 12:40 PM.
