Thursday, September 11, 2014

Is Degrading Too Far?

On the night of September 10th, President Barack Obama addressed the nation regarding ISIL. A statement made throughout his speech was "We will degrade and ultimately destroy, ISIL..." We can all agree ISIL is a group that has caused a lot of harm. We can also agree that ISIL does not need to expand or continue existing. To have the destruction of ISIL as a goal is fair, however to degrade the members of ISIL may be going too far.

Earlier in the speech, Obama mentions that ISIL recruiters prey on the vulnerable. What exactly makes up the vulnerable? Is the vulnerable a boy whose family was killed by ISIL and has been brought up thinking this group is the only family he has? Has this orphan boy now been brainwashed into a violent extremist or is he still the orphan boy looking for a place to belong? Regardless of what the boy has become he is still a human being and international law has guaranteed everyone a specific set of claims as a human being.

The dismantling of the group ISIL is necessary in the fight against terror necessary, however is the degrading? 

The word degrading just carries so much weight. To degrade something is to lose all respect for it. To degrade is to demean something or devalue it. 

The prisoners at Abu Ghraib were degraded. The respect for their claims as human beings were completely ignored. They were forced to perform demeaning acts. Is this what demeaning terrorists looks likes? The actions there were not only completely wrong but also caused a great deal of embarrassment for the United States, that would make one think we were done degrading people.But with practices at Guantanamo Bay still very questionable, I wonder, what does Obama mean by degrade? And if he means what the word degrade implies, is it what is necessary? Or is it just too far?
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2014 at 9:51 PM

    I agree with you that some members of ISIL have brought up to believe that the terrorist group is doing what is right for God and their world. However, when Obama said he wanted to "degrade" ISIL, I think he meant that he wanted to shrink and weaken them not humiliate or disrespect them.

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2014 at 11:37 PM

    When I first started reading this, I thought that it was unlikely you would persuade me to consider that the degradation of this terrorist group could ever go too far. But you have reminded me of the humanity that even our worst enemies possess. I definitely agree with you on the subject of torture and that it goes too far, especially when considering the fact that many people have evil ideas as a result of brainwashing.

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