Editorial: Abu Ghraib pornography presents warning about power_51704

Posted: 5/14/04

EDITORIAL:
Abu Ghraib pornography presents warning about power

Right now, we all remember why we teach our children to avoid pornography. Pornography debases human beings for whom Christ died. It treats people created in the divine image as objects, and thus it blasphemes God. But the most crippling aspect of pornography–at least to the voyeur–is its ability to crowd out all other images. It replaces beauty with revulsion and nobility with scandal.

So, we should not be surprised that the porn we have seen from Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad reflects the genre. Naked prisoners stacked in a pyramid. A naked Iraqi, grimacing in fear, taunted by dogs. Another, also naked and on a leash, mocked by a young female soldier. Vile and degrading, the images sear themselves into our minds' eyes, shoving aside the beautiful and noble images we cherish when we think of our nation.

Those pictures from Baghdad should not reflect negatively on the tens of thousands of heroic U.S. troops who are serving courageously and sacrificially in Iraq. They are risking their lives to ensure democracy for people who live half a globe away. By all accounts, the deplorable behavior at Abu Ghraib does not represent the vast majority of military personnel.

But those pictures do reflect negatively on America, whether we like it or not. We see ourselves as vanguards of liberty and human rights, defenders of the powerless, champions of the underdog. But there, for the world to see, are pictures of U.S. troops humiliating and terrorizing Iraqi prisoners. They're ugly–literally and symbolically.

Like porn that has preceded it, the filthy pictures from Baghdad will pop to mind at the most inopportune times. How will we feel when we sing the National Anthem or recite the Pledge of Allegiance but see a leashed Iraqi at the feet of a woman soldier? In the coming decades, how many Americans will die as their attackers remember a pile of naked prisoners?

Some among us would like to banish these pictures and all talk of them. (And don't we all wish we'd never seen them?) But they are there, and we must learn from them.

More than a century and a half ago, French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville said: “America is great because she is good. And if she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” These pictures remind us we must not assume our goodness nor take our greatness for granted. When we look at those picures, we wonder about both.

Of course, we could write many books on Americans' goodness. We could recite stories great and small. Of individual acts of kindness and heroic acts of mercy. Of rebuilding nations after devastating wars and removing evil dictators. Of stepping into harm's way when other nations sit on their hands. Of sacrificing to take humanitarian aid to people who would kill us, given the chance.

But those pictures. They remind us of what novelist Joseph Conrad called the “heart of darkness.” It is a void and desolate place. A place where even “good” people can descend. Ironically, they are most vulnerable when they feel most invincible.

The Apostle Paul described the human condition: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Each of us sins, and each of us is capable of new and as-yet-unimagined sin. Lord Acton warned about a particular temptation to sin: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This admonition is appropriate for America, the world's sole surviving superpower. We want to compare ourselves favorably with the “axis of evil,” the truly demonic leaders of totalitarian states. But seduced by unparalleled power, even baby-faced soldiers can commit barbaric acts of inhumanity.

The Abu Ghraib pornography should shock us into taking stock of our national will and integrity. We will be judged not by what we say, but by what we do. We will be judged not by the sadism of tyrants but by the lofty standards we have set for ourselves. That may not seem fair, but we are the ones who have set the rules.

On a personal level, those images from Baghdad should present each of us with a cautionary picture of the seductive power of evil. Few among us would imagine any of those U.S. soldiers would behave so badly under normal circumstances. But given power and opportunity in a climate of extreme anger, they debased themselves.

Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley cites alarming results from separate studies at Stanford and Yale universities. Given power and authority in a no-rules climate, students quickly inflicted barbaric pain on others who had no power. Each of us must acknowledge that tendency toward depravity. We must guard against abusing any power we possess. We must pray we never see or treat others as objects, as anything less than creatures made in God's image.
–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com