People dying for something they believe in, for something they are fighting for. It sounds noble. It sounds heroic. It makes people larger than life. But I need to say one thing out loud. Martyrdom is bullshit. I don’t want to demean anybody’s death. I don’t want to say that their sacrifice means nothing. I don’t think that the struggle that people endured to make their voice heard, to change the world is a pointless one.
What I am angry with is a world in which people have to die in their fight to make a better world.
I think that conscious life is incredibly precious. In the context of the awesome vastness of the universe, a person who is thinking and feeling is a rare singularity. That this person will use their limited time to try to make the world suck less for themselves and for others should be awe inspiring.
In an ideal world, we’d be able to make changes to the world for the better through a rational, reasoned discussion. But this world sucks. In this world, some people who try to make a positive change are visited upon with violence. In this world, precious lives are lost because some can’t or won’t understand the changes that are being made.
That someone loses their life because they fought for something they believe in is something I can’t romanticize. I can’t bring myself to think that it’s a good thing for a person to lose their life for a cause. The idea of martyrdom is bullshit. It’s bullshit and it’s abused to add fuel to the fires of conflict. Christians justify the crusades that arguably started the world’s longest running religious conflict with their martyrs while Islamic extremists continue to compound the violence by creating martyrs.
Screw martyrs. The world doesn’t need more of them.
I write about martyrs because recently, two people have died for causes I believe are worth fighting for.
In Pakistan, Salmaan Taseer died fighting for a secular Pakistan. While he was a Muslim, he protected a Christian woman being charged with Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. Taseer was gunned down by his own bodyguard, a man who now thinks he is a martyr.
In Uganda, David Koto died fighting for the equal rights of the LGBT, or at the very least the right not to be discriminated against.
I don’t want to remember these men as martyrs. I think they deserve better than that. They are people who stood for their causes despite great danger. It’s a far more respectful to them to remember them for exactly their live’s works rather than to venerate them and turn them into symbols. It is far better to remember them as merely men rather than saints, for then we know that anybody can do what they did. And the more people that stand up and fight for what they believe in, the more likely the visions of these men will come to pass.
Simple men are more than martyrs.
[…] Things That Are Bullshit: Martyrdom […]
Rizal and others would had been better alive than martyred. It was such a waste to allow a man die at the prime of his life with so much vision and passion to lift his countrymen from ignorance and slavery. Such people should never be allowed to be murdered and executed to pay for our own apathy and cowardice. They should be defended and allowed to live to contribute more in uplifting our forsaken humanity and perhaps awaken us to give our own share in this great struggle.
Hats off to Jeiel!
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Benjamin Espina, FilipinoFreethinkers. FilipinoFreethinkers said: NewPost: Things That Are Bullshit: Martyrdom http://j.mp/eiID3V […]
let's just say that if you're more useful to your cause DEAD than alive, then it doesn't say much about your own capabilities as a person
minsan, may mga katotohanan sa tinatawag nating buhay na mas mahalaga pa kesa sa buhay mismo.. namamatay sila dahil alam nila, ang pinaglalaban nila ay higit pa sa buhay…mas malaki pa sa buhay nila…(greater than life itself ika nga)…masarap mamatay na nalalaman mong may pinaglalaban ka…
walang saysay ba ang pagkamatay nila? Hindi siguro, kasi napakita nila sa tao na ang kanilang pinaglalaban ay hindi lamang isang ideya o krusada, kundi iyon ay nagbibigay ng buhay sa marami na minsan di kinikilala o binabalewala…
di lang mga kristiyano ang may martir, si Jose Rizal, Martin Luther King, Ninoy, mga Journalists na namatay sa sinisiwalat nilang expose, o wag natayo lumayo…mga magulang natin…nagsisikap, nagpapakamatay araw-araw para mabigyan tayo ng matino at masarap na buhay..ang kanilang araw-araw na buhay ay isang papapakamartir..namamatay sila sa sarili nilang gusto, dahil alam nila, may mas mahalaga pang buhay ang maliligats, may kinabukasan pang mas maganda silang nakikita sa ginagawa nila…at mahal nila tayo…o yung ginagawa ng freethinkers sa pagpapamigay ng condoms sa labas ng simbahan ba yun? pagsama sa rally pagkondena sa simbahan sa RH bill…hindi bat isang paraan yun ng pagiging martir, bakit nila sasayangin oras nila sa isang bagay na alam naman nila wala sila makukuha..dahil alam nila yun ang tama…in a way, martyrdom yun…
oo ang buhay ay mahalaga, precious sabi mo nga, pero kung ito ay sadyang buhay na puno nag pang-aapi, walang katarungan, at walang kalayaan…hindi ka ba tatayo para ipaglaban at ialay ang buhay mo para sa laban na iyon…???
nalungkot ako sa sinulat mo…ang hiling ko lang sana makita mo balang araw, maintindihan mo bakit may mga martir at handang ialay buhay nila para sa iba..o magising ka isang araw may mamatay para sa iyo..
And I think you failed to read the article properly, particularly this line:
[I don’t want to demean anybody’s death. I don’t want to say that their sacrifice means nothing. I don’t think that the struggle that people endured to make their voice heard, to change the world is a pointless one.]
The article isn't a criticism of people dying for their cause if you read it properly – the criticism is raised against people who draw the wrong sort of inspiration from their deaths. The article states that the best way to honor these people is to carry on the lessons they tried to pass on to their fellow men, to carry the torch so to speak, as compared to worshipping them blindly.
It's an elaboration on the difference between blind worship, and finding a meaningful way of passing on the dead's legacy onto the living. It's the difference found by those who find true inspiration in MLK's message of equality regardless of race, and those who distort it to fuel their own bigotry and stupidity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveda_King
[nalungkot ako sa sinulat mo…ang hiling ko lang sana makita mo balang araw, maintindihan mo bakit may mga martir at handang ialay buhay nila para sa iba..o magising ka isang araw may mamatay para sa iyo.. ]
And your lack of reading comprehension makes me want to cry too.
the worst part about martyrdomis that a lot of people like to put words in the mouths the dead… its not like dead people can complain and say:
"Now wait a minute, *I* would never say something like that!"
or
"Stop twisting my words for your own ends!"
Its sorta like making a fake Twitter or Facebook page of a celebrity and pretending you're them.
Dying without a cause is Big BS, you know? B)
I paraphrase a quote I like, from somewhere I don't remember:
"Any idiot can die for a cause. It takes a real man to live for one."
Great Article!
Dead on. Wonderful read.
Let me just quote another. I forgot where I read and who said this. The essence is essentially this.
"Pity the country that needs heroes. You need not look for heroes because the hero is in all of us, a dormant force to be reckoned with."