Friday, October 21, 2011

Moammar Gadhafi and Mob Rule

I had mixed feelings about the public demise and death of Libyan dictator Moammr Gadhafi.

He deserved to die -- I cannot express that conviction enough.

Yet unlike Osama bin Laden or other hostile members of the Al-Qaeda network, Gadhafi did not pose as direct a threat to the world, including the United States. The self-titled "king of kings of Africa" was an opponent of the terrorist network

The Egyptian people are putting their deposed President on trial. Even this legal arrangement raises some concern. A court of law is a mechanism for establishing the facts of a case against the accused, even the ruthless former head of state. After determining guilt, a proper punishment is meted out in order to enforce respect for the law and individual right, as well as to deter citizens from perpetrating the same crime.

Gadhafi did not deserve to be savaged by the people. He deserved justice, and justice he would have gotten from the powers of duly elected and appointed individuals in a reformed nation-state. Now, the neophyte regime to replace 42 years of tyranny already has blood on its hands.

Mob rule masquerading as vigilante justice is a nonsensical abstraction, replete with contradictions. There is not rule in a mob, and self-appointed avengers cannot establish justice, only wreak havoc pursuing vengeance.

Gadhafi's bloody body is a sad sight, not just to behold how the puffed-up mighty are fallen, but the insidious savagery of a people punishing the body of one man in a pitiful attempt to amend decades of injustice.

If the Libyan rebels take such liberties in day light, who knows what evil they may perpetrate against political dissidents and antagonistic states in the near future. There is still so much that must be carefully considered before rejoicing at the final, fatal brutality which has ended the longest lasting dictatorship in the Arab world.

No comments:

Post a Comment