Think on this passage from Albert Camus' The Fall:
I learned at least that I was on the side of the guilty, the accused only in exactly so far as their crime caused me no harm. their guilt made me eloquent because I was not its victim. When I was threatened , I became not only a judge in turn but even more: an irascible master who wanted , regardless of all laws, to strike down the offender and get him on his knees....
Which led me to think of two things. First, I thought of some favorite lines from Bob Dylan:
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degreeI want ev'rybody to be freeBut if you think that I'll let Barry GoldwaterMove in next door and mary my daughterYou must think I'm crazyI wouldn't let him do it for all the farms in Cuba
My second thought was how that passage resembles so much of American politics. Maybe I am too concerned with my upcoming sentencing ; I keep chewing on our federal minimum sentences. We all have enemies who we hate, as much as Dylan disliked Goldwater. Our fear of criminals led federal lawmakers to impose minimum prison sentences., regardless of cost or individual justice.
Camus hit the mark, though. He describes in the quote above how fear trumps reason, trumps morality.
sch
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to comment