to call hatred, terrorism, intolerance, and brutality what it is should be the easiest thing in the world to do. these days, to twist one's mind into a pretzel is applauded as courage, which only shows the moral bankruptcy of the wisdom of the age. the right thing to do is not dependent on the popularity of the issue. and, these days, the right thing to do is usually whatever the majority of people in the world are against. thankfully there is a just god in heaven whose will shall prevail, despite the best effort of man to try to make it fail.

The reason that the director of Daniel Pearl's story on film equivocates is for the simple reason that the film is attempting to present terrorism in some sort of rational terms which is an absurdity. Trying to appeal to a mass audience is what films are all about or they never find funding in the first place. The constant attempts by primarily left wing ideologues and "do-gooders" to effect change through dialogue are a total waste of time. Their roots are planted in anti-Semitism. Why else try to trivialize a Jew's life? The only real lesson to be gleaned from Daniel Pearl's painful story is that it is a waste of time for humanists to try to negotiate peace or freedom with ideological Neanderthals.

very good article by Mr.Pearl.

We have no other collective choice but to survive 9/11 attacks, TA bus bombings, Danny's murder video. We all keep on trying to give a sense to such tragic bestiality. Time for "moral equivalences" has now passed : We are at war, and then must take sides. Ours is to share the victim's sufferings, the way "Bnei Adam" always use to do. And the one who comes to object about intolerance, equivalence, symmetry and comparisons, must be by any means fought, defeated, and silenced. Without hatred, but by necessity, and with determination. Thank You, Judea Pearl. And although I'm not religious, let me add : May G_d bless you, your wife Ruth, your whole family, and Danny's soul.

Wonderful article Mr. Pearl. Thank you and G-d bless!

God Bless you and your family.

dedicated to defeating his islamic fascist terrorists.

you are so right - the western world lacks moral strength in the confrontation with islamic fanatism, its approach to israel's war against terrorism is a clear demonstration of this. how can anybody even think that killing danny pearl is morally the same as killing his killer?

Tolerance is a poor indicator. If the good tolerate evil, that is a paradox. The problem lies that the self cannot recognize to which group they belong. Bush was correct that it "us verse them" but to know who the us is, is not easy

ON THE VERGE OF TEARS,I MUST VAUNT THE COURAGE,CLARITY,& INTEGRITY OF MR.PEARLS SENTIMENT ! IT'S INDEED A RARE EXCEPTION WHEN A "VICTUM" ARTICULATES SO ELOQUENTLY ,SPEAKING WITH GENUINE INTEGRITY AND CREDIBILITY ! IN HIS FATHERS MERIT MAY , HIS NESHOMA RECIEVE A SPEEDY ALIAH ! THANKYOU FOR THE SOBER MOMENT OF PAUSE,WERE IT'S IMPETUS NOT SO TRAGIC !

Who better than this beknighted soul to spread such a message? And what a shame that Michael Winterbottom appears to be one of those who refuses to draw the distinction between "the arsonist and the firefighter."

Danny's murder was a tragedy for every one of us who are not willing to lie down and let the cowardly media brainwash us with ideas like "cycles of violence" and to deny the fact that one side is using savage means to fight an immoral war and the other is not. This essay is a tribute to your son's memory and an excellent analysis of the dangers of moral relativism.

"one side is using savage means to fight an immoral war and the other is not." says Lauren in Tel Aviv. Oh? So building a state on stolen land, expelling its inhabitants and oppressing those who dare to remain is not savagery, is it? NYC girl is quite right when she says that people should distinguish btwn the arsonist and firefighter!

not being jewish and having an arab family i can say without a doubt that here in israel is the most free, safe, and comfortable place i can find to want to raise my children anywhere in the middle east. we have been given more benefits and privileges from the jewish state than i ever thought possible, in light of all of the propaganda i heard (similar to things you yourself say). reality trumps rumors. you should not believe everything you hear - those who say things like you say obviously have no clue what they are talking about and should be ignored as irrelevant windbags. try educating yourself with some facts; you might learn something you didn't know.

>>building a state on stolen land ..exactly dear. But first give the land stolen by Arabs back to their rightful owners - kopts in Egypt, assirians in Iraq and Syria, etc. - clean Sudan, Ethiopia, Morocco etc. from brutal, thousands years long, illegal Arabic occupation. And don't forget to evacuate Arabs from Iran and Lebanon. Then let's talk about Israel and who and when was first on that land. So don't drag here your usual de jour demagoguery. You mistook this short text by J.Pearl for propaganda but it is not. This message is universal. If you don't understand it, - that only might mean that humaity is really splitting into humans plus something else.

Here in the U.S. our schools used to have solid academic curricula based on reading, writing, math, science, history, etc. In the 1970s, however, psychiatrists/ psychologists infiltrated our schools and thus began a wholesale assault on our natural sense of right and wrong. The psychiatric/ psychological industry introduced 'mental hygiene' into our schools. They have been hard at work to make the dream of psychiatrist G. Brock Chisholm of the "eventual eradication of the concept of right and wrong" a reality. Chisholm was a highly influential past president of the World Federation of Mental Health. He advocated: "If the race is to be freed from its crippling burden of good and evil, it must be psychiatrists who take the original responsibility." Many have joined his crusade, including our Department of Education. This is the program we have been exposed to in our schools since the 1970s. Under the psychiatric/ psychological curricula our education level has fallen beyond recognition and suicide and homicides have been going up (all school shooters in the U.S. have been on psychiatric drugs or going off them cold turkey). Our children, whose independent thinking and self-reliance was labeled bad, have been cast adrift without morals nor ethics to hold onto. And thus assigning the same value to right and wrong seems perfectly natural to them, and the beginning of the end to us.

Abuse of power is abuse of power. If the crime is committed by a "terrorist" it is no different than if the crime was committed by the "state" Crooks are crooks.

There you have it. Moral equivalence at its worst. Thanks Mr. Hanks. The one thing we dont need is more conspiracy theories inspired by terrorist propaganda. No thanks!!!!! Stalin had a term for this, "useful tools".