Stream Your Event | Partners | Speakers CART ITEMS: - | CHECKOUT

Elie Wiesel: What Makes Us Moral?

Watch Full Video | previews

Chautauqua Institution

Info
Bio
Chapters
Preview
Download
Zoom In

Elie Wiesel on Iraq and the Morality of Warfare

04 min 04 sec

Add to Profile

Author Elie Wiesel argues that war is inherently immoral because of the suffering and destruction it entails.

A few weeks before the start of the Iraq war, Wiesel counseled President Bush against his plans to make war.
Elie Wiesel Finds Hope in a Two-State Solution

03 min 32 sec

Add to Profile

Elie Wiesel argues in support of the two state solution in the Middle East, a resolution accepted by Israel in 1947 but rejected by the Palestinians.

He says, "Violence must stop, terrorism must stop...but it is possible, in spite of everything."
Elie Wiesel: Did the World Learn from Auschwitz?

04 min 21 sec

Add to Profile

Elie Wiesel calls education the only weapon against racism, although the leaders of Nazi murder commands were well-educated.

He asks, "If Auschwitz hasn't cured the world of anti-Semitism, what can?"
Watch Full Program

01 hr 06 min 08 sec

Add to Profile

There are 15 comments on this program

Please or register to post a comment.

Previous FORAtv comments:

Page 1 of 2

BonBee

Posted: 11.01.09, 06:27 AM

Actually, the translation from Hebrew as it appears in the Torah, is "Thou shalt not murder." The discussion then turns on the semantic difference between murder and kill.

Trevar +
FORA.tv Staff

Posted: 10.19.09, 01:17 PM

@Ted K, Navigate to "FULL PROGRAM" tab on the bottom left of the player and then click "WATCH FULL PROGRAM."

Ted K

Posted: 10.18.09, 04:09 AM

How can I see the whole video?

flash dave

Posted: 10.13.09, 06:15 AM

Those that win the war and annihilate the opposition have more claim to just wars than those that are no longer around to speak otherwise.

LynnS

Posted: 10.05.09, 07:55 AM

I think he said the first question asked mankind by G_d is to Cain, but I think that actually the first question was to Adam. Did you eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? The answer, the woman tempted me, and then the woman was asked and said the deceiver tempted me and interestingly there is nothing written saying that G_d questioned the deceiver. Also my understanding is that G_d said that if you eat of it surely you will die. Does that mean they understood death? Later the conversation began between Eve and the deceiver who said that eating of the tree would not cause death and Eve decided that the deceiver was telling the truth, therefore G_d was not. Thus began our excuses and our dilemma discerning what is truth and the beginning of separation between G_d and man/woman, and the separation between men and women. And that began the end of the deceiver. Well if you believe in that stuff. Maybe it was the end of innocence and the beginning of choice.

tomm541

Posted: 10.04.09, 10:11 AM

...is anybody here who ses through this too???

tomm541

Posted: 10.04.09, 10:10 AM

...And there are 3 books about god (and many more), and many people with many power who all know excaclty how god wants us to behave and where we have to spend our money and with whom we should sleep or not... HA!

tomm541

Posted: 10.04.09, 10:02 AM

Ha! We are all "descendants from Adam and Eve"... And we can all "choose what god wants us to be"... Ha!! Yeeeeeeeesssss, sure! Please, think about it!

natmanprime

Posted: 09.20.09, 01:47 PM

Rondrez, Assuming the deaths your father speaks of were german soldiers, his killings have to be moral because they were necessary. The soldiers were willing to kill to preserve their right to kill jews and other 'non-aryans' just for the sake of it. This is an example of when killing is moral, and this is why the commandment "thou shall not kill" has problems because it is absolute in nature. Let's say you had a chance to kill the 9/11 bombers before the event, you were on the plane. You knew what they were going to do. It has to be your moral duty to do kill them, for the sake of all that followed from it. Don't get me wrong, it's still a last resort after reasoning with them, but to kill them is justified morally. The same with your father. Even if it means he is damned for it, according to he rules of a god (which I don't believe made them) he STILL DID THE MORAL THING. Because regardless of whose religion is right and wrong, we know that REAL PEOPLE will die if he didn't do the right thing. For each person he killed, many more would have suffered and died at the hands of that person. Life is precious. Humanity is precious. I hope I haven't upset or offended you. Thank you.

natmanprime

Posted: 09.20.09, 01:21 PM

Ozipop, Wiesel said "war by definition is not moral apart from when it's a just war" Now, I don't think the fora people are to blame because Wiesel is clearly confused as to the definition of the words he's using, and they're just trying to make sense of them as best they can. However, I think Wiesel meant that a 'just war' is to be regarded as a 'moral intervention' and not a war, and that a war is something done for political reasons and is therefore immoral, as opposed to an 'intervention' done for moral reasons. My PERSONAL opinion is that the world should get together and fight any regime in the world that dehumanizes it's people and acts in abominable ways to them, especially if it starts killing them. By 'fight' I mean that it should be done in the RIGHT way, not carpet bombing civilians indiscriminately, etc. The country of the freed people should then be our ally and we should have mutual respect for each other, tolerating free speech.

Page 1 of 2