Wang, you are obviously created from a civilized society or you wouldn’t have the ability to think like that. It is precisely the ability of “tolerant” societies to tolerate the intolerable that make them so dangerously susceptible to their own demise. There are places in this world, Afghanistan being the prime example, where digression toward the mean of their population reveals the type of barbaric behavior illustrated in these kidnappings and murder.

This type of behavior doesn’t need to be “understood,” it needs to be eradicated. You assume because you hold a certain set of beliefs, for example that life is valuable, that everyone must hold those values dear as well. This is not the case. It is the ultimate western arrogance to assume that all people are really good, and within every people group there must be a little bit of what they hold dear in their hearts as well.

In the movie “Full Metal Jacket” an Army officer is berates a Marine saying “..We are here to help the Vietnamese, because inside every gook there is an American trying to get out.” This is the ultimate self destructive hubris; to assume that inside these uneducated and barbaric people there is a good decent person that we need to try to understand. In reality, theirs is culture of murder, abject cruelty, and defies almost every worthy value that most modern civilizations try to promote.

They don’t need to be understood. We need to understand the world that produces these kind of murders better.

At least we are willing to fight. That’s more than you can say for some countries.

I don’t believe Daud Khan is a native Korean. He must be a foreign journalist. The article is well-written and quite fair. I did not sense any sort of rabid nationalism or anti-American sentiment. Thus, I do not believe a Korean could have written that email.

Nothing like reading someone’s bigotry first thing in the morning…

“I don’t know who sent the 23 people to Afghanistan, but it was the responsibility of the Korean government… Korean embassy in Kabul to inform the group about the Afghan society, the sensitive areas and the risks involved with group traveling and journey in the southern zone of the country.”

Doesn’t the Korean government already warn citizens from going to Afghanistan? Isn’t this a common knowledge? I mean, would the New York City Hall also be responsible to inform visiting tourists from jogging at 3 am in the central park?

“It has efficiently fulfilled its responsibility because a government and a state must be responsible to save the lives of its citizens.”

Why should the government spend tax payer money to save people who want to die? Why should the Korean government essentially endorse Christian missions?

Already the Taleban is claiming Korean government didn’t fulfill their part of the deal. I wonder if this has made Korea a terror target now.

In response to this debacle, there will be great pressure to prevent any and all Korean nationals from Afghanistan. Even Christian groups who have been working intelligently will feel the heat. What about Korean members of NGOs like Doctors without Borders? Will they have to pack up and go home too?

It’s difficult for me to have a sigh of relief at this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4019809.stm