Friday, March 18, 2005

Nun's Conviction Upheld

Now here's a reason why I hate over zealous and over righteous people.

"It's confirmation of what I'd been thinking all along. I don't have confidence in the court system to uphold the law of the land, international law," Hudson said in a telephone interview from her home in Washington state.

Hudson said the protest was an act of "civil resistance" to inform Americans their government was violating international treaties and other agreements by continuing to possess and threaten to use nuclear weapons.

The logic apparently goes:
1) I'm a nun and a good person, therefore the law doesn't really apply to me.
2) I have false ideas about what international and local law states about America's possession of nuclear weapons.
3) Facts? Why do I need those? I feel that the USA is violating treaties and agreements.
4) Civil resistance isn't punishable when violating the law.

I can respect a person's attitude toward nuclear missiles and war in general, but if you're to stupid to get the facts straight don't bother me. I also Hate loud whining when they are held accountable for their actions. Maybe they should read some Gandhi on civil disobedience.
Gandhi practiced two types of Satyagraha in his mass campaigns. The first was civil disobedience, which entailed breaking a law and courting arrest. When we today hear this term, our minds tend to stress the “disobedience” part of it. But for Gandhi, “civil” was just as important. He used “civil” here not just in its meaning of “relating to citizenship and government” but also in its meaning of “civilized” or “polite.” And that’s exactly what Gandhi strove for.

We also tend to lay stress differently than Gandhi on the phases of civil disobedience. We tend to think breaking the law is the core of it. But to Gandhi, the core of it was going to prison. Breaking the law was mostly just a way to get there.
Well, I guess you can't expect nuns to learn anything from a heathen. Even if he was the most successful of civil disobedience protestors of any time.

1 comment:

Granted said...

I say, good. Don't these people get it. Civil Disobediance means breaking the law. That's what it means. So, when you break the law...