Waco: The Inside Story
From: A. Gray
I think it is important to review government actions, especially in the area of law enforcement. However, I believe it is a travesty that so much emotional energy has been wasted on trying to allocate blame for the demise of David Koresh and his misguided, lost cult of followers.
The only person who bears the primary responsibility for the demise of Koresh's followers is Koresh himself. In addition, Koresh's naive, lost followers, bear a large measure of responsibility for their own deaths. They willingly gave up their freedom of thought and action to a delusional, messianic maniac who used the threat of violence, sexual exploitation, and ritualized child abuse of members' young daughters to control his "flock" and fulfill his sick sexual obsessions and pedophilia. They allowed themselves to be deluded, used and sacrificed like lambs by an obvious psychopath.
There is no doubt that it was tragedy that his followers died during the Waco seige, although probably through their own Jonestown like mass suicide. However, it is important not to forget that this self professed messiah had every opportunity to turn down the heat of the confrontation and give himself up to agents of the American legal system for trial. To excuse or in any way justify Koresh's violent, muderous resistance of federal agents serves to undermine the foundations of our Democracy and the legal foundation on which this nation is built. Such apologists for Koresh, or the Ruby Ridge White Supremacist fanatics, are either naively serving the interests of anti-government anarchists, or actively trying to undermine the very governmental institutions that serve as the backbone for our nation.
Finally, if everyone resisted legal authorities with gunfire, as in the Waco or Ruby Ridge episodes, our society would rapidly collpase. This disintegration of our society would herald an unprecendented Hobbesian state that we all would eternally regret! This is a potentiality that all Americans must actively resist. Accordingly, as Americans, we must eternally struggle to maintain and enhance the ties that bind us together as a nation. Thus, to maintain these ties, we must also be willing to support our governmental insititutions, including those agencies now under attach for the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents. We can guide these governmental bodies towards reform when needed without self-destructively seeking to dismantle or eliminate these bodies. In spite of their flaws, our governmental institutions continue to serve and protect our common rights and interests as Americans.
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Viewer Reactions: Waco - The Inside Story FRONTLINE PBS
Koresh was clearly a pedophile and psychopath who was responsible for the deaths at Waco.