Threadd:
Sorry but tragedy falls in the field of literature and drama, not moral philosophy, law or ethics.
It’s the quality of an event or chain of events defined by its result, impact and effect, independent of motive or responsibility. 1/
Sorry but tragedy falls in the field of literature and drama, not moral philosophy, law or ethics.
It’s the quality of an event or chain of events defined by its result, impact and effect, independent of motive or responsibility. 1/
2 Would the child’s death have been any less tragic had it not been caused by illness?
For example, if the child had been struck by a car while crossing the street at a crosswalk? Or jaywalking?
Or shot along with mother and siblings by an estranged father?
2/
For example, if the child had been struck by a car while crossing the street at a crosswalk? Or jaywalking?
Or shot along with mother and siblings by an estranged father?
2/
3 Or, if the child had died along with 177 others when a surface-to-air missile exploded near a commercial airliner on a scheduled flight?
Is that not in fact 178 tragedies as well as a collective tragedy, whatever else it may be? 3/x
Is that not in fact 178 tragedies as well as a collective tragedy, whatever else it may be? 3/x
4 Death before one’s time is always a tragedy - by illness, by accident, by aggression, whatever the circumstances. We consider it tragic because people are left to mourn who should have died already and been spared this grief. Because life cut short is promise unfulfilled. 4/x
5 Benevolent intent - “best-laid plans” - can lead to a tragic outcome. Malevolent intent can lrkduce a tragic outcome far greater than the intention. In drama, intent is an essential element of tragedy - otherwise there would be no tension to resolve, no lesson to take away. 5/x
6 In drama, a tragedy is a story, not a portrait (such as a child with a terminal illness). Shakespeare had no problem with malicious intent or flawed response - on the contrary, these were essential elements in MacBeth, Hamlet, King Lear ... and two centuries later ... 6/x
... in another tragedy, Walter Scott observed: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave / When first we practise to deceive!”
Mass death is one tragedy and many, however caused, whatever the negligence or purposeful action, whatever else it may be called. Examples: 6/x
Mass death is one tragedy and many, however caused, whatever the negligence or purposeful action, whatever else it may be called. Examples: 6/x
7 Events: Natural disaster, train wreck, shipwreck, plane crash, car pileup, bus plunge, mass suicide, casualties in battle. Tragedies all, but not in themselves atrocities, although negligence or incompetence may play a role. 7/x
8 More tragedies, sometimes atrocities: epidemic, famine, serial killings. Always atrocities: mass killings with intent or recklessness, massacres, mass executions, war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide. Not an exhaustive list. Again, each one a single tragedy & many. 8/x
9 What about #Flight752? One tragedy and many, as I’ve said, as the meta-narrative of Iran’s recent history and the tragic stories of victims attest.
Also an atrocity? I don’t think we know yet.
The massacre at El Mozote in El Salvador in 1981, planned and carried out ... 9/x
Also an atrocity? I don’t think we know yet.
The massacre at El Mozote in El Salvador in 1981, planned and carried out ... 9/x
10 ... by soldiers under military command, was an atrocity. The genocide in Rwanda, encouraged by murderous hate-filled broadcasts, was an atrocity. The German Nazis’ mass murders - the Holocaust genocide - were atrocities.
The Lockerbie airliner bombing ... 10/x
The Lockerbie airliner bombing ... 10/x
11 ... by agents of the Gadhafi regime in Libya was an atrocity. The 1985 Air India bombing - Canada’s worst air disaster - was an atrocity.
As for #FlightPS752, I don’t think you can declare it an atrocity on the balance of probabilities, which is what all the takes ... 11/x
As for #FlightPS752, I don’t think you can declare it an atrocity on the balance of probabilities, which is what all the takes ... 11/x
12 ... based on how close the plane was to the SAM array, system programming, failure to override and so on are doing. Same for the “toxic environment” arguments (pro- & anti-Iran). I think we need to know what went on at the site of the launch button. 12/x
13 I mean “button” figuratively because I don’t know whether launch was active, requiring a human decision to activate, or passive, requiring a human decision to deactivate. If the former, then we need to know on what basis the launch decision was made. If the latter ... 12/x
14 ... was failure to deactivate conscious or negligent? How many levels of approval were required? Were they all on-site? Was there a procedure for verifying that the target was hostile? At all stages, how much pressure were actors under? 14/x
15/x Are we likely to get credible answers to these questions? I hope so, but I’m not optimistic. The call for swift justice is a two-edged sword. It will be all too easy to identify a convenient scapegoat and hope the world moves on, instead of pursuing all relevant facts. 15/x
16 At this point we know more about the US Navy’s 1988 destruction of IranAir Flight 655, killing 290 people. An investigation acquitted the captain and crew of “culpable conduct” but mistakes were acknowledged and some of their actions remain unexplained. 16/x
17 There were elements of negligence in the Flight 655 attack. Speaking to the UN Security Council, Iran’s Foreign Minister said the attack couldn’t have been inadvertent and called it an atrocity. But the council declined to condemn it. It would be a stretch to say ... 17/x
18 ... that the Flight 655 attack is generally considered an atrocity today.
Judgment of #FlightPS752 will depend on the investigation’s transparency, independence, thiroughness and freedom from coercion. It lives already in the annals of human tragedy.
18/18 end thanks
Judgment of #FlightPS752 will depend on the investigation’s transparency, independence, thiroughness and freedom from coercion. It lives already in the annals of human tragedy.
18/18 end thanks
@threadreaderapp unroll pls tia
