ETHICS, discussing violence used for political ends

I belong to a writing group. One of the authors, Obi, read a passage from a novel. I excerpted it below. For information on Obi visit Penknife Press and select authors.

Timothy McVeigh! Thank God for Timothy McVeigh! There was a true patriot. He set for himself a job, to strike a blow for freedom. It was a tough job, a job that he knew would cost him his life. But he didn’t turn his back. He didn’t ask, why me? He didn’t look for someone else to do it. He did what he had to do! Just like Jesus did! Now that takes balls. Jesus whipped the money changers from the temple; McVeigh blew the fuck out of the Murrah Building. You go, guy!

The government wants you to think McVeigh was a coward because he killed some kids, but he didn’t know the kids were there. He did it in retaliation for what the government did at Waco. At Waco, the government killed the kids that it knew were there. It burned them alive. It burned them like hotdogs over a camp fire. Or shot them with automatic weapons if they tried to escape the flames. It sent armor-clad commandos into a nursery to kill the children. How much bravery does that take?

People in this country today are pussies! They think freedom is free. Well, it ain’t. Freedom is purchased with blood, one drop at atime, one man at a time. McVeigh was such a man. He gave the last ounce, the last measure. Thank God for Timothy McVeigh.

The group considered this passage provocative.

In The Weather Underground one of the former Weathermen makes the point that the use of violence for political ends by the government is presumed to be legitimate and the use of violence for political ends by other groups and individuals is presumed to be illegal or insane.

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