Gandhi's ethic of nonviolent civil disobedience Essay

Gandhi's ethic of nonviolent civil disobedience - Essay Example The Holocaust and more recently, the attacks on the World Trade Center may be considered as examples of an unfortunate inversion of sacred beliefs and moralities, that led to the attempted annihilation of two distinct groups of people and their cultures. In the first instance, it was the Jews, who were the target, and in the second it was the American people. The responsibility for these two subversions of the holy can be narrowed down and fixed on two powerful personalities, Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden. But what motivated these two to such actions'Hitler firmly subscribed to the belief that the Germans were of Nordic/Aryan origin, and were a superior race; if they mixed with the inferior race of Jews, racial purity would be diluted. (Jewish Virtual Library, para 4) This view may have also been exacerbated by his personal dislike of Jews; he felt they, along with the Communists, (most Communists were Jews too!) were responsible for the defeat of Germany in the First World War, a defeat that led to the Fatherland's total humiliation. (Burleigh qtd. in Spartacus.schoolnet) Germany had to pay 38% of its national income in war reparation. In the spirit of a Plato advocating regulated breeding of humans to ensure better 'quality', Hitler went a step further by advocating ethnic cleansing, which would set the stage for building a strong and pure Nordic race. Hitler gave his eugenic program a 'scientific' base too. He referred to Nietzsche's and Darwin's theories to justify it. He firmly believed that he would be helping to achieve the evolutionary ideal of getting the best to survive by wiping out the inferior Jewish race. (Brief History: Evolutionary Theory)The Jews were first isolated in ghettos in order to be stopped from 'polluting' the pure Nordic race. The next step taken by Hitler was to exhort his countrymen to partake in a cleansing pogrom devised for the complete annihilation of the Jews. And Hitler, being the demagogue that he was, was also able to co nvince his compatriots that it was a sacred duty to wipe out an inferior race, thus paving the way for making Germany a great country.As for Osama, his belief was (is) that Islam is the only true religion, and Mohammed, the only Prophet, and all those who did not agree were infidels. It was God's great plan that the infidels should be wiped out through the process of 'Jihad' (Holy War). It was a devout Mussalman's sacred duty to kill or forcefully convert the infidel to Islam. '''''As Fasching says: Bin Laden and the al Qaeda, according to a discovered terrorist manual, are clear about the goal - "overthrow of the godless regimes and their replacement with an Islamic regime." This goal authorizes Muslims to kill Americans and all unbelievers. The killing of even innocent women and children is not only permitted but religiously required. (2002) Bin Laden justified his aggressive anti-American stand by stating that the Americans caused offence to Islam and its followers by their very presence in the Holy Land (Saudi Arabia) during the Gulf War of the early 1990's. The most holy of Islamic sites are located in Saudi Arabia, and Islam forbids a non-Muslim to visit these sites (Mecca, for instance) even under normal circumstances of peace. Thus the presence of American soldiers during the war was seen as a wanton desecration of the Holy Land of Islamic tradition. (Fasching 2002) From Osama's perspective, secularism as a way of life, accepted by the modern Western outlook, is itself profane, with its implications of a free intermingling of different religious groups, and a negation of religious and cultural identities. Bin Laden's antipathy to the outsider, encompasses all the nations of the UN, including "those who pretend(ed) they are leaders of the Arab world" and continued with their U.N membership. Bin Laden, it must be