Israel/Palestine
In reply to the discussion: Mother of demolished Silwan home: 'Violence begets violence' [View all]Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)I'm someone who is advising you on how to approach the situation of a grieving parent, Dave. Perhaps you are so fortunate, that you've never actually encountered such a figure in your life.
Yes, this dude murdered five people. It's fucking horrific by any standard. Reprehensible. There's no defense. and he died, for what he did. And we agree - it was a meaningless act that led to a meaningless death.
A mother is not going to say that about their dead child, Dave. Not so soon after it happens, not to the cameras and microphones. That parent is going to try to find what refuge they can from the fact that her son is dead after committing a senseless massacre. Can you fucking imagine what that must be like, for that to crash down into a parent's life? To not just lose a child, but to lose him in such a horrid way? I frankly don't think imagination can cover it, even for those of us who care to try.
No, her son is not a martyr for a cause. He's a murderer who threw his own life away for no sensible reason at all. But to that woman, he is still her baby boy. he always will be. And for now, in her grief, she is deluding herself, trying to find some meaning in his meaningless death, some way to anchor herself in all of this.
You disagree with her delusion. That's fine, so do I - like I said, he's no martyr. But she deserves some basic fucking empathy, as a mother who has just lost her child - that her son perpetrated something horrible does not lessen her loss by any amount. And if you can't muster even that little bit of empathy, then it's probably best to just step back and shut your hole, instead of railing and yelling about her not giving you some performance you demand of her.