Voltaire (1694 to 1778) wrote: “Those who can make you believe
absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
There’s a happy thought! Or maybe it is when taken in
reverse. Don’t let the absurdities entrap us in the first place. That may keep
the atrocities at bay.
Remember the ‘Holy Crusades’ were not holy at all but truly
atrocities committed in the name of religion. Christian warriors slaying
Muslims; shocking? How is that different from today? Or any other war claiming
to be of higher purpose? Were there really weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
as claimed by George W. Bush? No. yet we waged a decade long war that killed
perhaps as many as 200,000 people and cost the American people 2 trillion
dollars or more to say nothing of the tragic loss of our military personnel and
tens of thousands of wounded and maimed soldiers. Tragic indeed!
May our lives reside in reality and fact not absurdity. May
atrocities be committed by those of unsound mind rather than public policy. And
may we all work to these ends.
January 5, 2013
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