Remembering victims of terrorism

another day, another vigil for those who were killed by a terrorist

People offer flowers for the victims at the Tsukui Yamayuri En care facility in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Sunday. | KYODO

the killer had been hospitalized for mental illness and had been a heavy drug user.


Wikipedia report.


NDY reports Disability advocates in the US are holding an "on line" vigil to remember those who died.

the murderer released a letter insisting that it should be legal to kill such people, echoing the coming PC propaganda that so far has been subtle.

Buddhism sometimes sees disability as a punishment for past lives, and will gain merit by patient endurance of their suffering, but also sees caring for the disabled as a good deed that will release you from the cycle of reincarnation.

The letter from the murderer, however, used the language of some modern bioethicists, that society would be better off without them. from dailyLife(au)

A man prays at a makeshift altar in front of the Tsukui Yamayuri En care centre for the disabled in Sagamihara, Japan.Photo: The Asahi Shimbun

Part of his chilling letter read: My reasoning is that I may be able to revitalise the world economy and I thought it may be possible to prevent World War III. I envision a world where a person with multiple disabilities can be euthanised, with an agreement from the guardians, when it is difficult for the person to carry out household and social activities.I believe there is still no answer about the way of life for individuals with multiple disabilities. The disabled can only create misery. I think now is the time to carry out a revolution and to make the inevitable but tough decision for the sake of all mankind. Let Japan take the first big step.

but the author notes that this is an opinion that is increasingly popular in modern society:

Disability activist Sam Connor noticed, too. "In the wake of other mass murders and hate crimes, there were outpourings of public grief, rallying of communities, shows of solidarity. After Japan - perhaps the only mass hate crime where the killer had clearly signalled his intention to 'euthanise' hundreds of disabled people prior to the event - there was nothing," she said. "Nobody is speculating whether views like those of Peter Singer, who advocates for infanticide against disabled babies and the killing of disabled people, have contributed to this tragedy and whether this is the inevitable conclusion of expressing views about disability genocide."

Is this why the story tends to be ignored in the west? Because they are disabled, or because only murderers with politically incorrect motives are demonized by the MSM?

 Connor also speculates on the way the victims have not been mentioned - perhaps because in Japan, disability is considered as shameful. "It's almost worse that nobody is speaking about it. No names, no mass laying of flowers. It's disability erasure. Those victims, it is like they never existed", she said. The idea that the lives of disabled people are worthless is not a new one. The media may be tempted to portray this attack as a random incident; something that, unlike the lone wolf inspired by ISIS, is not part of a broader ideology or pattern. Not something we need to worry about. 

except a lot of people are encouraged to off themselves, and one suspects many more are killed than are reported to the police.

People with disability are at greater risk of violence than the general population, in Australia and internationally. Most of my friends with disabilities have been told we should kill ourselves at some point of my life. I've even been told this on a date. Others are told this by strangers. Disabled people are scared. And we have every reason to be.

This HastingsCenter report shows how the attitude that the disabled are better off dead is alas getting to be more common, albeit usually as pressure toward "non treatment" decisions for a a person who is merely disabled, not dying.

Non treatment at the end of life is a subtle thing: you chose not to kill, but to keep the person in comfort while avoiding extraordinary and painful medical treatment.

But "offering" this to a person who is merely sick or disabled actually is a way to pressure them into suicide. Often they are already tired, depressed, and discouraged, and see this as telling them they should die because no  one wants them to live.

But of course, behind it is all that money you can save... just google about all that money spent on disability payments.

One is reminded of the quip: They know the price of everything but the value of nothing...

Yes, but behind each disability payment is a story.

the only answer to this is religious: The idea that life is precious to the one "whose eye is on the sparrow", but also the idea that everything happens for a purpose, even suffering...