Alert Media Nation reader T.A. has called my attention to Imaduddin Ahmed’s blog, in which he discusses his offensive op-ed about Benazir Bhutto. He writes: “A couple of readers have stated their unease about my pointing out Bhutto’s flaws so soon after her death.”
No, no, no. That’s not it at all. It’s obviously fine that he pointed out her flaws. What’s offensive is that he wrote about how glad he is that she was assassinated — as in, “Benazir’s death may offer new hope for democratic values.” It really doesn’t get any clearer than that.
Ahmed also lunges for the moral high ground and misses, writing, “I’m also offended that the deaths of artist Gulgee, 50 train passengers and over 200 flood victims didn’t mean as much to the media.”
Well, if you’re going to go all John Donne on us, Mr. Ahmed, let me just say that I’m offended that you can celebrate Bhutto’s death without bothering to note that 23 other people (in addition to the gunman) were killed as well.
And I continue to be offended that the Boston Globe and the International Herald Tribune would provide a forum for his piece.
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Sadly, this is just another example of “the end justifies the means” on the part of radical adherents of a political persuasion. Intellectual honesty will die from the “Death by a Thousand Cuts”.
What kind of democratic values arise out of assassination?One could make an argument that the death of a potentially bad leader is a good thing, even with collateral death. But, it’s hardly a harbinger of democracy.