Reasonable People?

How do you find the bad guy in a movie? He's the one who sneers at the native people and, frothing at the mouth, calls them "savages." I saw this the other day while the boys were watching Pocahontas. The evil, narrowminded Englishman thought the Native Americans were savages. He wasn't an enlightened fellow.

But do people who appear evil just need to be understood? Maybe we should have spent more time getting to know Adolf and Saddam? Or are there groups of people who are truly savage? Are there cultures which accept and encourage evil? History tells us there are. I've always been a student of history and recently have been reading about places like Little Big Horn, Isandlwana, and Tenochtitlan. I don't think I realized that there were groups outside of Western Civilization who were really that different, that unreasonable. They murder, cannibalize, sodomize, abuse, oppress, steal, and destroy. They give no quarter, respect no life, and have no desire to "be understanding." They are not misunderstood and they are not noble.

Are they still people? Of course. Are all people fallen and sinful, no matter where they come from? Of course. But you better not expect to be able to reason with just anyone. Some people and some groups are so bent toward evil and destruction that they are just not going to show you mercy. Islamic terrorists spring to mind.

But surely the terrorists are an isolated few amongst many millions of open-minded, free and liberal thinking muslims, right? I'd like to think so but I don't know. Look at these pictures of British Muslims protesting in London. This isn't civil or reasonable.

I hope this is the tiny minority… but the more history I study the more cynical I become about what groups of people can think and do and accept.