'Martyrism'

[Ubiquitous]

Is there too much empathsis placed on martyrism these days? Lots of people comment that killing terrorists and other political figures may not be a good idea because it would turn them into martyrs. However, is this justified? Is there a recent case of a person being killed that has been turned into a martyr and caused far more problems dead than he were alive?

[Aaron]

Well Israel killing those 2 Hamas leaders recently made them marytrs. But I don't think that there has been any retaliation for it.

[Stofsk]

I think an angle to consider is everyone prefers the "devil they know" to the one they don't. Killing that devil creates a power vaccum, as well as potentially "martyring" them. So not only have you killed someone who you probably have detailed knowledge of and perhaps are familiar with their capabilities, but you have also created a situation where an unknown might fill the spot, whose capabilities you are not familiar with, and with only sketchy knowledge at best (well, up till your intelligence service fills the blanks and connects the dots), and who may be worse than the one he's replacing. At the very least the situation I would think will become more unpredictable.

[Darth Wong]

It's not about what effect the martyr has this week, or the next. Martyrs can create lasting legacies of hatred and retribution. A martyr named Jesus spawned many centuries of anti-Semitic violence, remember?

[18-Till-I-Die]

It's not about what effect the martyr has this week, or the next. Martyrs can create lasting legacies of hatred and retribution. A martyr named Jesus spawned many centuries of anti-Semitic violence, remember?

Actually i would think a martyr called Hitler spawned far more violence and anti-senitism. Ever since he blew his brains--and the brains of his girlfreind--across a bunker floor, there have been neo-nazis, skinheads, and psychopaths of every shape and description terrorizing and killing 'subhumans' for the last half-century. Actually longer, but anywho, my point...

It depends on who died and why. Ddid they have carisma, did they die 'dramatically', and most importantly how staunch was their support. I gauarentee, in sixty years no one will know who the hell those two Hamas leaders were (few know their names now), and no one will care why they died or who killed them. But sixty years from now, Hitler will still be a name thrown around by people who seig heil to themselves in a mirror, and shave their heads, and go out to 'stomp a mudhole' in some 'sub-humans'.

[Stark]

It's not about what effect the martyr has this week, or the next. Martyrs can create lasting legacies of hatred and retribution. A martyr named Jesus spawned many centuries of anti-Semitic violence, remember?

Actually i would think a martyr called Hitler spawned far more violence and anti-senitism. Ever since he blew his brains--and the brains of his girlfreind--across a bunker floor, there have been neo-nazis, skinheads, and psychopaths of every shape and description terrorizing and killing 'subhumans' for the last half-century. Actually longer, but anywho, my point...

It depends on who died and why. Ddid they have carisma, did they die 'dramatically', and most importantly how staunch was their support. I gauarentee, in sixty years no one will know who the hell those two Hamas leaders were (few know their names now), and no one will care why they died or who killed them. But sixty years from now, Hitler will still be a name thrown around by people who seig heil to themselves in a mirror, and shave their heads, and go out to 'stomp a mudhole' in some 'sub-humans'.

Put yourself in Rome, three or four weeks after Jesus was executed. Do you see yourself worrying? Think the masses are paying attention? Of course the Empire will outlive some provincial nobody claiming godhood, right? RIGHT?

Being a martyr has often nothing at all to do with the martyr themselves, Jesus is a case in point. Indeed, neo-nazis use Hitler as nothing more than a symbol; they'd be Jew-hating cavemen ANYWAY. And think; do you ACTUALLY know what Jesus did? Why he died? What he stood for? Course not. His mates wrote the book,and they had careers ahead of them on the talk show circuit. Its quite blind of you to think noone will care about the executed Hamas leaders; indeed, you probably think noone would care about the 1929 massacre either.

And, not to labour a point, lets add up Jesus-inspired anti-semitism and put it against Hitler-inspired anti-semitism. Wow... seven years of war and fifty-odd years of 'brought to you in memory of' violence, against two thousand years of hatred. Riiiiiight.