Prudence or cowardice: the cases of Centanni and Wiig

Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, the two journalists that were kidnapped in Gaza and suffered the humiliation of having to simulate a conversion to Islam in order to save their lives, are now the center of a controversy. Were they correct in simulating the conversion for the sake of their lives, or are they merely cowards for not being willing to die instead of accepting the humiliation? Jeff Jacoby says here that he hopes he would have the courage to take the bullet, admitting implicitly that he does not know how he would have acted.

I think it is too difficult to try to judge these two journalists. I am here sitting very comfortably in front of my computer, with my life secure, far from any imminent threat to it. Centanni and Wiig were not in my current position. Besides, at least Wiig has wife and children. In his case at least, his humiliation has allowed him to be alive and his wife to continue having her husband; his children having their father.

I don’t know if it was cowardice or prudence what moved Wiig and Centanni to do what they did. I do not feel with authority to judge them, and I limit myself to be glad that they are alive and well. Specially in the case of Wiig, husband and father, I am happy to think that those children still have their dad, and a wife still has her husband at her side to raise those children.

And I am also happy to think that such feeling is what sets me apart from the savages that kill “infidels.” I am happy to know that I am heir to a Civilization in which we value every single human life as precious and sacred; heir of a culture in which we firmly believe that we do not have the right to take anyone’s life (with the only exception being legitimate self-defence), regardless of the fact that such person professes a different religion than ours (or no one at all). It makes me feel good to be reminded of why we fight against this barbaric ideology called Islam.

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