The Revenge Of Superman
By
IT was a familiar yet bizarre sight, like some drama from Hollywood, gripping us with fear and pity: one, and then another commercial plane ramming into two tall, very tall buildings in a sophisticated city: New York. In the wake of the attack, a blazing inferno and a tilting, then collapsing tower. The horror begins; this indeed is a live-attack, not a post-modernist simulation of a potential threat from a celestial enemy. Thousands are dead, million wail, and the world is promised that superman must take vengeance, beginning this week.
Revenge! The type of revenge which Americans call for appears to be an extension of the horror movie: whip the bastards, 'smoke them out of their holes, 'bomb them to bits,' 'even nations which accommodate them should not be spared,' kill and destroy the enemy with superior weapons! The United States is in grief and anger and many nations are too. Revenge itself is a vicious cycle, which can only be terminated with the intervention of divinity, a sort of deus ex machina. For, the kith and kin of the victims of revenge are honour-bound to exact their pound of flesh, even if it takes a generation for them to do so. Thus in the post-modernist world created by superman himself, revenge through the use of violence could be viewed by some moral purists as being as unacceptable as the original action by the terrorists. Yet President Bush must act, show the citizens that he is capable of protecting them and put enough fear into potential terrorists. Perhaps, here is the dilemma which the U.S must extricate himself from: how to punish without malice and prejudice, and with respect for international and moral laws, and how to convince the citizenry that American might is not a myth.
It is frightening the U.S and its western allies are contemplating the use of bombs in Afghanistan, with missiles and bullets for added measure, to fish out Osama bin Laden and his dreaded cohorts. This rain of death is likely to fall on the good and the bad, the weak and the strong, woman and child. Even in American movie aesthetics this is against the ethics of the superman. How can American bring the criminals to book with minimum damage to the innocent and convince the world that although she is the accuser, the judge and the executioner in her own case, she has remained faithful to the demands of fairness, of equity. The hounds argue that such niceties should be left to Utopia, and that explanations and apologies can be made after the revenge mission. Certainly, America as an idea, as the bastion of current world civilization cannot subscribe to this nihilistic world-view.
The point had been made by President Mubarak of Egypt that by exacting revenging in a bloodthirsty manner, a new generation of terrorists would be created. For such fellows, self-sacrifice for a cause is the highest form of contribution that guarantees one a place in paradise. This is why there is fear that the method and scale of revenge are likely to foster resort to more deadly methods of nibbling at the most vulnerable points of superman. The dilemma here is that America as a world leader has a conscience but the terrorists, being largely stateless adventurers, have none.
There is a sense in which the attempt at building a consensus of world leaders is a step in the direction of ensuring that America acts in fairness. But there is no way we can guarantee that accused persons who are captured or surrendered to an American court will get justice. It is therefore in the interest of superman to create or use neutral adjudicators like the UN or its organs to try the terrorists. To be sure, the attack on the World Trade Centre is an attack on all the rest of us. It has been reported that 62 nations lost citizens. Nigerians are grieving like Americans; so are some other countries in Europe and Asia. The outrage against the masterminds of the WTC is universal. Prominent Moslems have dissociated themselves and Islam from such blatant disregard for the sanctity of human life. But America is the most injured nation.
Perhaps this is the time to strengthen the UN and make it more dynamic and active in responding to the type of situation which we currently have. For now, it would seem that Kofi Annan and his men are mere observers in a conflict that affects member nations. Certainly, the UN was not created to observe, although the handicap is understandable. The September 11 act is despicable and must be thoroughly condemned by the world. God himself would hold the terrorists responsible for the lives of all the innocent people that were lost in the unfortunate incident.
Those last, touching moments shared between loved ones who were on their way to death and those at home graphically illustrate the savagery of using innocent human lives as expendable material in a conflict between civilization and banditry. Nothing can excuse the barbarism of the act. Yet the world should seek justice and ensure that the perpetrators are tried and condemned by a proper organ of the UN.
September, 2001