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Thread: Alan Henning: Your views

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    Alan Henning: Your views

    Please this is not a debit on his apparent execution just now. It's sad times we live in. His family must be devastated beyond words. But that's my whole point of this thread. Knowing the dangers, knowing the risks could you leave your family? I am half torn between what a man to give up every thing to help others and between choosing others over your kids.

    Please no negativity. R.I.P to a great man either way.

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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: Alan Henning: Your views

    He risked his life for a cause. It didn't end well, so we can say in retrospect that it wasn't a good move, but at the time he made that choice, he couldn't have known how it would turn out, so all we can really say is that he risked his life for a cause.
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    Wall Poster TysonLPrice's Avatar
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    Re: Alan Henning: Your views

    I've have very mixed emotions about it. It seems there are probably many people in his own “back yard” that could have used his help. He allowed himself to become political fodder and left behind a lot of very hurt people. On the other hand his desire to help others is very commendable. We could all take a lesson from that. I guess I tip my hat to him but question his choice of who to help.

    That's how I feel but I truly don't mean any disrespect. He chose his path and I'm in no position to judge him.

    I would love to drop a huge fuel air bomb on the people that slaughtered him. Of all the people that were captured with him they let the Muslims go. Being an “infidel” is a big part of the reason his was held. Being a “westerner” didn't help. Just another group of *******s using God as an excuse to defile humanity.
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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: Alan Henning: Your views

    I think it's more than that. That group, like many others, needs to fund their operation. One of the major sources of money is kidnapping and ransoms paid. America, and probably Britain (though I forget), have said they won't negotiate, so there isn't any monetary value for those hostages.

    In the end, it's mostly about economics for any of these things. Religion is just a cover.
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    Wall Poster TysonLPrice's Avatar
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    Re: Alan Henning: Your views

    I don't think religion is just a cover for those animals. I believe it and their desire for a caliphate are the driving forces. As with many things however there are many layers of complexity and you may have a point. These be-headings serve a few purposes for them. The western be-headings are for public consumption. It is a regular practice for them in many of the places they conquer. As a side note, Saudi Arabia,our "partner", behead people in open squares as a matter of practice. Where is our outrage there?

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...le-last-month/

    I posted this last night and realized I'm being a hypocrite. I live in a country with the death penalty, albeit sanitized, and I support it. I'm not comparing that to what ISIS is doing. I'm just saying my hands aren't clean...
    Last edited by TysonLPrice; Oct 5th, 2014 at 06:11 AM.
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    Super Moderator FunkyDexter's Avatar
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    Re: Alan Henning: Your views

    The death penalty is a difficult subject. I personally don't support it but I also would not draw any comparison between what the US does (or with what Saudi Arabia does) with what was done to Alan Henning. One is part of a system of crime and punishment, the other is an act of murder carried out for political ends.

    While Alan Henning most certainly could have done some good helping out people in his own back yard it's hard to imagine he could have done anything like as much good. The needs of people in an occasionally impoverished UK really don't compare to the needs of civilians in war torn Iraq. With that in mind I fully support the choice he made. I think it was courageous and selfless and I believe that, if more people were to make such choices, the world would be a better place. It's undoubtedly a tragedy that his family have been left without him but the blame for that tragedy lies squarely at the feet of his murderers and does not diminish the nobility of his decision in any way.
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    Wall Poster TysonLPrice's Avatar
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    Re: Alan Henning: Your views

    Quote Originally Posted by FunkyDexter View Post
    The death penalty is a difficult subject. I personally don't support it but I also would not draw any comparison between what the US does (or with what Saudi Arabia does) with what was done to Alan Henning. One is part of a system of crime and punishment, the other is an act of murder carried out for political ends.

    While Alan Henning most certainly could have done some good helping out people in his own back yard it's hard to imagine he could have done anything like as much good. The needs of people in an occasionally impoverished UK really don't compare to the needs of civilians in war torn Iraq. With that in mind I fully support the choice he made. I think it was courageous and selfless and I believe that, if more people were to make such choices, the world would be a better place. It's undoubtedly a tragedy that his family have been left without him but the blame for that tragedy lies squarely at the feet of his murderers and does not diminish the nobility of his decision in any way.
    Good points. I'm glad you agree with my saying "I'm not comparing that to what ISIS is doing." The amount of good whether it is helping the imporverished elderly or young is in your own "backyard" compared to a few meals to a crowd is a hard to measure. I don't know what his motives really were but I'm not trying to take anything away. After all we are defined by our actions. I was just giving my opinion and I tried to express it in a way not to denigrate his choices.
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    Super Moderator FunkyDexter's Avatar
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    Re: Alan Henning: Your views

    Don't get me wrong, I don't think you came across as denigrating his choices at all. I hope I didn't imply that. I think the posts in this thread have been uniformly sensitive and positive and I wouldn't want to take away from them in any way.

    For me the only point where I think we disagree at all (and it's a fairly subtle disagreement) is whether the good he could have done in Europe is comparable to the good he was trying to do in Iraq. To me they're worlds apart. That is not to say, however, that he couldn't have done a huge amount of good in his local community so his decisions to go to Iraq does represent a loss to his local community, I just think it represented a greater gain to the world as a whole. That can only be a judgement call, though, and I think the point we'd all agree on is that he was a courageous and selfless man who's a great loss to the world.
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    Wall Poster TysonLPrice's Avatar
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    Re: Alan Henning: Your views

    I think the point we'd all agree on is that he was a courageous and selfless man who's a great loss to the world.
    Agreed 100%. And to prevent myself from digressing anymore in this thread about other items, related or not, I'm going to leave it at that.
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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: Alan Henning: Your views

    One thing that has me totally baffled about this whole affair is that I could have sworn I saw a picture of this event a week before it happened. Considering how detached from modern events I have been, that didn't really surprise me, at the time. I've been on a remote bike trip for weeks. At some point during that ride, I thought I saw a picture in the Economist about this murder, then I get back and the news comes out about ISIS beheading a British aid worker as if it was new, yet it was the same picture....I haven't gone looking for that original article, but it wouldn't be hard to find.

    I'm totally lost as to the timeline of all this, though I don't think it really matters.
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