2008 Woodie Awards
Thoughts on a "hot" topic
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,
[On Feb. 6], Trinity University screened the film "Hot House," which chronicles the lives of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. I have not seen the film, and I was not present at [that] night's discussion, but, for anyone there who was able to walk away from this experience still convinced that cold-blooded killers do not deserve sympathy, I offer you my heartfelt congratulations. On behalf of victims of terrorism everywhere, you are to be commended for your moral clarity, and your parents are to be commended for having taught you right from wrong.
Admittedly, the protagonists in the film are not quite so lucky as yourselves, because the guidance they received as children turned their world upside down. Yes, it is possible that these people have the right to portray themselves as victims, but the question becomes whose victims are they? The people in those jails, the murderers and would be murderers, whose only regret is that they did not spill even more innocent human blood, are victims of a society that nurtured them to kill and to glorify death. While you were watching "Sesame Street," with Bert and Ernie teaching you to read and count, the Palestinian "Sesame Street"-equivalent was teaching little boys and girls to aspire to martyrdom. While you attended summer camp to learn to swim and hike, they attended summer camp to learn to kill and to hate with every ounce of their being. While your parents struggled to put you on the path to success, their parents and their leaders collectively squandered billions of dollars poured into the Palestinian economy, allowing the top brass to line their pockets with most of this money, and wasting the rest on the above-mentioned indoctrination programs and camps. Worst of all, Palestinians deliberately threw away every opportunity for peace with Israel, choosing instead to devote an entire generation of their children to terrorism. The fruits of their labor were featured in the film you saw.
If there is ever to be peace and sanity in the Middle East and beyond, the first step is for all decent human beings to be able to see beyond the myth and glorification that buoys not only Palestinian terrorists, but all killers of innocent civilians motivated by politics or religion. As members of the generation of tomorrow, I urge the student body at Trinity to stand up and recognize that murder under any banner is not justifiable.
The ultimate tragedy of "Hot House," or any other piece that attempts to put a human face on brutality, is that another innocent life will be lost if we allow ourselves to be trapped in the moral ambivalence that films such as this one seek to create.
Joseph Furman, MD, San Antonio, TX
[On Feb. 6], Trinity University screened the film "Hot House," which chronicles the lives of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. I have not seen the film, and I was not present at [that] night's discussion, but, for anyone there who was able to walk away from this experience still convinced that cold-blooded killers do not deserve sympathy, I offer you my heartfelt congratulations. On behalf of victims of terrorism everywhere, you are to be commended for your moral clarity, and your parents are to be commended for having taught you right from wrong.
Admittedly, the protagonists in the film are not quite so lucky as yourselves, because the guidance they received as children turned their world upside down. Yes, it is possible that these people have the right to portray themselves as victims, but the question becomes whose victims are they? The people in those jails, the murderers and would be murderers, whose only regret is that they did not spill even more innocent human blood, are victims of a society that nurtured them to kill and to glorify death. While you were watching "Sesame Street," with Bert and Ernie teaching you to read and count, the Palestinian "Sesame Street"-equivalent was teaching little boys and girls to aspire to martyrdom. While you attended summer camp to learn to swim and hike, they attended summer camp to learn to kill and to hate with every ounce of their being. While your parents struggled to put you on the path to success, their parents and their leaders collectively squandered billions of dollars poured into the Palestinian economy, allowing the top brass to line their pockets with most of this money, and wasting the rest on the above-mentioned indoctrination programs and camps. Worst of all, Palestinians deliberately threw away every opportunity for peace with Israel, choosing instead to devote an entire generation of their children to terrorism. The fruits of their labor were featured in the film you saw.
If there is ever to be peace and sanity in the Middle East and beyond, the first step is for all decent human beings to be able to see beyond the myth and glorification that buoys not only Palestinian terrorists, but all killers of innocent civilians motivated by politics or religion. As members of the generation of tomorrow, I urge the student body at Trinity to stand up and recognize that murder under any banner is not justifiable.
The ultimate tragedy of "Hot House," or any other piece that attempts to put a human face on brutality, is that another innocent life will be lost if we allow ourselves to be trapped in the moral ambivalence that films such as this one seek to create.
Joseph Furman, MD, San Antonio, TX
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