[Redbook1:238-239][19720512:2050]{Irish
killings}[12th May 1972]
Friday 19720512 20.30
The man who
kills for personal reasons, in the heat of the moment, is perhaps most
understandable.
The man who
kills impersonally but to protect himself is perhaps on a level with the
soldier killing in war.
But the man
who kills in pre-meditated cold blood, knowing full well what he intends to do,
for the sake of an ideal, comes nearest, perhaps, to Evil. (And yet, there must be an explanation. Is it aberration to the point of
insanity? Or is it simply low
intelligence and lack of imagination? Is
there really a violent trait in the Irish character, similar to that found in
some primitive peoples? Or is there some
sad lack in the Irish family life? Is
there something in the climate, or in the soil?) That man is guilty of putting people after
ideals, which is a great danger.
There is only
one thing that can help Ulster now, and that is the people, who must come to
see exactly where their true interests lie.
It is to the discredit of both Governments and both Parties that they
have not seen before that whatever else they did, they had to keep the people
on their side – of whatever race, class or religion.
For power
comes not, in the ultimate, from the barrel of a gun, but from the people.
Politicians,
unfortunately, tend to see life and people in terms of politics rather then
politics in terms of people.
We may at
some stage see the first appearance of the leaders’ war – where one belligerent
State announces – in its own interest – that it has no quarrel with the people
of the opposing state, but only with its leaders – and carries out its part in
the war with that attitude in mind.
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