Tuesday, November 22, 2011
"The Penn State Rape Scandal and the Myth of the ‘Otherwise Decent Person’"
Here is an interesting article about today's society.
It seems to point out that somehow we can judge people "good", even though they do something really "bad".
Trying to make life a balance sheet just doesn't work for me.
"Good" people just don't do really "bad" stuff; i.e., pure means without ANY flaws...
It seems to point out that somehow we can judge people "good", even though they do something really "bad".
Trying to make life a balance sheet just doesn't work for me.
"Good" people just don't do really "bad" stuff; i.e., pure means without ANY flaws...
Rob Taylor writes at PJmedia.com. AFter reading it, you can decide for yourself:
"The idea that people who cover up the rapes of children — facilitating further rapes in the future by either inaction or becoming accessories — can be considered 'good' people is to turn the very idea of virtue on its head. One cannot deny justice to rape victims through their actions and still be called a 'good man' as Douthat calls Paterno. The myth of the Otherwise Decent Person is just that — a myth. It is a fantasy perpetuated by small people of poor character to excuse their own perfidy and moral cowardice.
Writing about crime, I come across this corrupt and wearisome idea with what is unfortunately no longer alarming regularity. Any time some criminal matter gains sufficient traction on the Internet, the family and friends of the criminal show up in the comments of crime blogs and news sites with the same tired apologia. 'Sure, so and so murdered someone in a robbery but he was a good father' or “Of course pimping out your kids is wrong, but at least they were well fed” are phrases I assure you have been left on sites I run or frequent.
The arguments are always the same — some person does something horrible and people that know the person detail the nice things they’ve done which usually consist of nothing more than the bare minimum of what you expect functioning adults to do"
