The Only Good Indian

In 1869, General Philip Sheridan met a Comanche Indian chief who told him he was a "good Indian." Sheridan replied, "The only good Indians I ever saw were dead." The phrase later became widely known as "The only good Indian is a dead Indian."

I hardly approve of the sentiment toward Indians. My wife has Choctaw Indian in her background, and blanketing a race of people with a generalization like that is wrong, stupid, counterproductive, and yes, evil.

However I thought of Sheridan's line this morning as I watched the news that London police had killed a terror suspect trying to get on the subway. Frankly, the one thing we know for sure about that guy is that he will never again attempt to kill innocents in his struggle to establish his twisted world view as the dominant culture. He will never again threaten harm to defenseless civilians. He will never stone a girl for not wearing a veil. He will never blow up children surrounding American soldiers to get candy. He will never murder political leaders to discourage freedom from coming.

Sounds like a good terrorist to me.