My Dear Bunglehorn,

I’m not the least bit surprised to hear of your patient’s sympathy for Saddam Hussein. The Enemy instructs His believers to love their enemies. Even as so few people accomplish this, Saddam is a special case. He’s been a media staple for years. He is someone people have come to know, or at least recognize. He is a caricature, not of his atrocities against humanity, but of his defiance in the face of overwhelming military strength. In their hooded veils, his executioners are the very image of cowardice and evil. They are the terrorists, the oppressive barbarians. People naturally root for the underdog and they are sad when he loses.

As Saddam faced his death, it forced men to contemplate their own deaths. Saddam wasn’t someone they’d never heard of. They KNOW him. He is a cultural icon. Not because he painted his own face throughout Iraq, but because Western media lionizes him. So just as it happens when someone close to a person dies, Saddam’s hanging presents one of the few times in life you and I dread: our patients consider the afterlife. They ask themselves the deeper questions that so often leads them astray of us:
“Where has my dead friend gone?”
“I see their body, but what of their soul?”
“Is the soul truly eternal?”
“Where will I go when I die?”

Ugh. If your patient starts on that path, get him to a newsstand fast. Saddam died as a martyr and the USA is as much a villain as Saddam. Exhibit A: The San Francisco Chronicle Op/Ed pages…

SOMEONE has to say it: The hanging of Saddam Hussein was an act of barbarism that makes a mockery of President Bush’s claim it was “an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy.”

Instead, the rushed, illegal and unruly execution of a former U.S. ally after his conviction in a kangaroo court blurred the line between terrorist and terrorized as effectively as Hussein’s own evil propaganda ever did.
Robert Scheer

As per usual, the press laud despots in there attempts to understand them. So often they are celebrated with humor, candor, bravery and gusto! These are the underdogs! These are revolutionaries who stood up to oppressive authoritarians. Why, even the United States of America is proud of her stand against England. We’re winning propaganda battles in the Americas with Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and the populist Hugo Chavez. Our playbook hasn’t changed since the Far East in the 20th century. Look at Ho Chi Minh, Kim Jong Il, Pol Pot, Lenin & Stalin. We’re already changing the tide with the elusive Osama bin Laden.

In closing, let me caution you, Bunglehorn. You’re treading a thin line. You want your patient to see Saddam on the same moral plane as those who overthrew his evil regime. However, you do not want him to see Saddam as a simple man, created in the image of the Enemy, and therefore deserving of human dignity. You do not want him to ponder the sheer abundance of the Enemy’s infinite grace, for he’ll realize it encompasses even the worst of men. This is in large part why the Vatican denounced Saddam’s execution even as they recognize a sovereign nation’s right to do so. It’s best if your patient remains angry about this injustice. You do not want him praying for a despot’s soul.

Warmest Regards,
Wigglebrick

One Comment to “St. Saddam, Martyr”

1. 1

   For those of you with patients dead-set against abortion, advocate capital punishment. If they are for one and against the other (doesn’t matter which), you’ve driven a wedge of contradiction into their overall stance on “Life” issues. In other words, you’ve convinced them to be pro-life in some circumstances, but not others.

   This accomplishes two objectives. 1) Their positions are plainly inconsistent to their liberal or conservative opponents, so they instantly lose credibility. And 2) you’re helping them wrap their minds around our brand of functionalism where people have merit on what they do, not for simply being a person.

   Schmoediddle
   July 4th, 2007 @ 3:14 PM

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