I just posted the following to
The Last Midnight. Here it is for (dee-)you. ;)
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The madness over Haditha has got me thinking. Always a bad idea, I know.
But all joking aside, the Haditha story has caused something of a split even among my lefty buddies. There are two camps: the "No, we don't excuse murder, blame it on the murderers" camp, and the "It's the higher-ups' fault for getting them into such an awful situation that they snapped" camp. In a sort of sad way, this echoes a lot of the right/left split on the issues of our day. People who blast Bush's response to Katrina are blaming Bush for a hurricane. And redeploying is the same as surrendering to the terrorists. And suggesting that the US's foreign policy has caused a bad situation is the same as blaming the US for terrorism. And saying that the US should adjust its policy in the Middle East is the same as giving in to Osama bin Laden's demands. Which is unacceptable not because of the demands, but because they come from Osama bin Laden.
Imagine you are a nursery school teacher and you have left your blackboard pointer on a desk within easy reach. One of your students gets hold of it and pokes another child, making him cry and disrupting the whole class. Do you punish that child, or do you put the pointer on a high shelf, where the children can't get to it?
You wouldn't have to choose one or the other. You'd do both, right?
You hold the malefactor accountable for his actions, but you also adjust the situation so the problem is less likely to happen again.
What if the child is particularly precocious, and the next day says to you, "Ah HA! You put the pointer on a high shelf, which means that you give in. If I can reach it, it's OK for me to poke people with, is that what you're saying?"
Have you really given in? What would you say to that child?
Why can't we hold people accountable for their actions, and at the same time create conditions where they are less likely to do them? When someone has done something wrong, do we never change our own behavior in response? What about when the problem behavior is increasing?
What kind of children would we raise if we refused to change our parenting tactics in the face of an obstinate problem? What kind of drivers would we be if we plowed ahead to spite the drunk driver weaving in front of us?
It's not about surrendering or not surrendering. It's about moving forward. You can do that and still place the blame where it belongs. We do it every day.