Thursday 24 November 2011

Whitewashing a Word.

Suggested by a young person’s blog post.

Criminal: One who breaks the law.

But we all know that some laws are bad. Laws can be enacted for reasons that benefit minority interests, that are pecuniary, that are based on views we don’t all hold, that accord with axioms which the wise and the good question, that protect the hold on power of those who make them, that ignore wrongness for the sake of personal, political or social exigency.

Robin Hood was a criminal. Mahatma Ghandi was a criminal. Nelson Mandela was a criminal.

‘Criminal’ is a very subjective term. It should be used carefully and with due regard for its limitations.

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