Forgetting History.

I read a news report the other day, about a man in France who was arrested and charged with insulting the flag. Apparently, he’d become frustrated with some petty official, grabbed the flag, and snapped the pole over his knee.

Well now, so ‘insulting the flag’ is a criminal offence in France. This strikes me as going some way beyond mere national pride and into the realms of jingoism. And it’s my belief that jingoism is nothing more than a sign of deep rooted national insecurity. There is, however, a bigger issue to be considered.

The perfect society would have no need of law. Such a society would be populated by people to whom ethical values are second nature, and law would be nothing more than a pointless intrusion. The fact that we need to have law is a measure of human imperfection; but have it we must because the human animal is highly imperfect.

So, allowing the concession that criminal law is necessary, let’s also accept that the only imperative in its formulation should be the protection of the innocent, the weak and the vulnerable. ‘Insulting the flag’ falls a long way short of according with that presumption. It is at best foppish, and at worst tyrannical.

So what price the Revolution?