Cdn Hero who joined the Kurds in the fight against ISIS died: His letter to the world

I've just finished reading an incredibly moving letter. This is the last part, the whole thing is moving.

Quote:

http://ift.tt/20xDn5g ... I was raised in a fundamentalist religious environment. If today I have any intellectual or spiritual existence worth fighting for, it is because it was impossible for the religious forces in my life to have their way and shield me from the assaults of reason and conscience. They could teach me that evolution was a lie, but they couldn’t prevent me from reading about it or prohibit the public schools from teaching it. They could tell me blasphemy was a sin, but they couldn’t prevent me from sneaking Monty Python and South Park. The mechanisms of society, in other words, gave me the tools by which I could make myself free. They saved my life. Who safeguards the social machinery now? Only an overbred political elite and intelligentsia who burble about the urgent need to never give offense. This is not only a disgraceful failure; it is a national emergency. Like theocracy today, fascism used to be an international movement, with fascist parties in every western country. Then World War II happened. Nazi Germany became the standard-bearer of fascism, and when it was crushed, the movement wasn’t just destroyed, it was discredited for all time. Ironically, the rise of ISIS gives us the same chance now. We have the ability to eradicate jihadism in our lifetime. The terrorists’ own playbook sees the taking and holding of territory as a necessary step to discredit Western democracy and prove that the Caliphate is a real political possibility in the 21st century. We have to prove that it is not. And like we did with Nazi Germany, we must crush it with overwhelming, unrelenting force. We have to take it while the mass graves are still fresh, while there are still survivors to give testimony to the atrocities they’ve witnessed, while the murderers are still around to be put on trial. Only by destroying ISIS without mercy can we discredit the idea, and force the would-be jihadis and fellow-travelers to give up their insane dreams of a new Mecca and join the modern world. I’m prepared to give my life in the cause of averting the disaster we are stumbling towards as a civilization. A free Kurdistan would be good enough cause for any internationalist, but we are fortunate enough to be able to risk our necks for something more important and more righteous than anything we’ve faced in generations. With some fortitude and guts, we can purge the sickness that’s poisoning our society, and come together to defeat this ultimate evil. I’ve been fighting this battle in one way or another for my entire life. I hope for success. The rest is in the hands of the gods.

Quote:

Hero's homecoming for Canadian killed fighting ISIS http://ift.tt/1Ok5mi4 The mother of a Canadian soldier who died fighting ISIS alongside Kurdish forces in Syria said she was overwhelmed by the show of support for her son on Friday, as his body was repatriated to southwestern Ontario. Valerie Carder said she was surprised by how many people had shown up to honour her son John Gallagher as a convoy brought his body from a funeral home in Toronto to Blenheim, Ont., not far from where he grew up.

This guy was someone who I would have been proud to call my friend. He's right you know, this battle is more important than most people understand. And his understanding of these issues, and his skewering of certain arguments and attitudes about this battle, which we have all seen posted on these boards, puts all others to shame.

If I could have, I would have been there on the Highway of Heroes. And if I was able, I might actually go join them.

We live in incredible times.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1QUCuiV