Letters to the Editor
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story old as history
Once I read that church leaders in 15th century Spain debated whether it was Christian to enslave the indigenious people in the new world. Ultimately, the church gave permission to enslave as long as the slaves were converted to Christianity. With modern eyes, this decision does not seem overly charitable.
At the same period in history, the Mayans, the Aztecs (future slaves of the Spanish) were performing human sacrifice without any debate as to the rightness of the act. It was an accepted practice.
Can the two cultures be compared in this way? I am not finding fault with the native people of South America nor am I suggesting that the Spanish were somehow superior, but explaining the difference use of power at different times in a culture's development.
In the film Munich (btb, has been done before as a TV movie and with the same story), Israel questions its motives, the outcomes and the effect on themselves. It could be the Palestinans do as well besides, but can we see it sometime?
Personally, I believe both the Israelis and Palestinans are damned. They murder each other's children AND push their own children out for gun/bomb fodder.