Qaddafi’s Murder Sparks Mixed Reactions
As graphic videos and images of Muammar Qaddafi’s last moments were linked on Balatarin, an amazing discussion has been in progress among users about the way the Libyan leader and his son Mutasem were murdered after their capture by forces in Qaddafi’s hometown of Sirte. One link was just a Farsi translation of an English comment left on a video of Qaddafi’s dead body.
“Treating a body like that is a disgrace. Uploading things like that even worse. Whoever he was, he is not anymore. Whatever he did, he can never do that again. So, why behave like a bunch of devils (saying animals would be offending the animals). He might have been an evil man, but this shows the men who killed him just as bad. Where is the democracy they claimed to be fighting for?”
“Under revolutionary and riot circumstances, public conduct is not completely controllable. No matter how inappropriate and inhumane the behavior, the experience from all (yes, ALL) revolutions has shown that the anger of those revolting will blaze like a fire that would engulf the lives and assets of the former abusers,” said pegahan. User mirzadeh replied: “You are right my friend, but you have to bear our own revolution in mind; look at where the revolutionary zeal has taken us. It is unacceptable if a revolution eventually ends in the bad guy’s departure, only to see him replaced with new bad guys. I hope for Libyans that they would soon implement wiser methods–that is if they don’t want to replicate what we did!” pegahan’s reply was: “The Libyan rebels have had control over most of the Libyan soil, and except for reports of a few cases of violations of human rights by the rebels, no other cases of abuse have been reported about them. I guess that during the next few days the situation would calm down and the transitional government would start returning order to the country without trying to seek revenge. What happened during [the Iranian] 1979 revolution, was one step back in our historical development, toward Islamic savagery, discrimination, and crime, and it is no wonder that the murder machinery which was started at that time keeps taking fresh victims still.”
“It was very interesting! In our home, when the TV showed Qaddafi’s dead body in that condition, nobody seemed to care about his former deeds; everybody thought that Qaddafi was victimized in this story. Everybody looked at him with compassion. Certainly, the way Qaddafi was treated will create a hero of him in the minds of many Libyans, and in the distant future, it will also create problems for this country. Nobody felt sorry for an executed Saddam Hussain, but many felt sorry for a murdered Qaddafi,” said k_1980.
User dariyushah’s comment is pretty representative of what many users had to say about this. “Qaddafi was a criminal, but killing him in this inhumane fashion was heart wrenching and regrettable.” And user taabnaak’s comment perhaps best sums up the other side’s way of thinking: “40,000 people were killed. These warriors were fighting for months and watched up close the murders of their friends and maybe saw their families blown up into pieces. Now, some people sit here behind their computers comfortably and ask why Qaddafi was mistreated! A war turns everyone cruel and devoid of emotion. A war is no party.”
So, there you have today’s dialogue, folks! Until next time, stay with us on Balatarin, where the Iranian dialogue takes shape!
