Justice for…[fill in the blank]
Let’s take a look at the classic depictions of Justice:
She wears a blindfold. And not because it’s Halloween. It’s because:
Lady Justice (Latin: Iustitia, the Roman goddess of Justice, who is equivalent to the Greek goddesses Themis and Dike) is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems.
…Lady Justice is most often depicted with a set of scales typically suspended from her right hand, upon which she measures the strengths of a case’s support and opposition. She is also often seen carrying a double-edged sword in her left hand, symbolizing the power of Reason and Justice, which may be wielded either for or against any party.
…Since the 15th century, Lady Justice has often been depicted wearing a blindfold. The blindfold represents objectivity, in that justice is or should be meted out objectively, without fear or favour, regardless of identity, personal wealth, power, or weakness; blind justice and impartiality. The earliest Roman coins depicted Justitia with the sword in one hand and the scale in the other, but with her eyes uncovered. Justitia was only commonly represented as “blind” since about the end of the 15th century.
Reason. Justice. Objectivity. Beautiful words.
The crowds of peaceful demonstrators, and the mobs of opportunistic looters (some mix of the two), have as their rallying cry “Justice for Michael Brown.” To the first group, “justice” would have been Darren Wilson’s indictment, and then conviction. To the second, it means the payback of taking a lot of stuff for free and having the pleasure of destroying a lot of other stuff. But both pervert the meaning of the word “justice” into “it means whatever I happen to want as an end result.” Ends, not means.
Note that the crowds don’t say, “Justice for Darren Wilson.” That’s because those same crowds assume that the justice system already is not blind, and that it is always and automatically skewed in the direction of favoring the white man and the police. That actually used to be fairly uniformly true, many years ago, but it’s been a long time since it was. Nowadays when the tipping of the scales occurs, it can go in either direction, favoring either white or black, depending on the circumstances. But the goal, always, is not tipping but impartiality based on attention to evidence—both of which go to make true justice, as best we can achieve it in this flawed world.
Did I say “evidence”? In the Brown case, for many of the “justice for Brown” seekers, we don’t need no steenking evidence. But strangely enough, the grand jury probably felt it did need some, and the huge preponderance of the evidence happened to point in the direction of Wilson’s innocence.
I am heartened by the courage and judgment of the jurors, in this case and the Martin case.
justice for
Natalie DuBose sold her cakes at flea markets to save up to own her own shop. Tonight it was attacked in ferguson
poor woman is in tears
turns out most of thebusinesses were minority owned
where is the justice for her???
Shep Smith is such a squish. He’s adding “thoughtful” fuel to tonight’s fire.
Wank aside, I thought the prosecutor did a terrific job and that the jury was a brave bunch, some of the witnesses too.
However, haters gonna hate, and that town is a cesspool of hatred. Wonder what wonderful destruction Obama can leverage out of this.
Will any of the protesters ever read the grand jury transcript or examine the evidence? I would guess no. Why burden yourself with proof when your mind is already made up. If the shoe were on the other foot I wonder how they would feel.
Vigilantism is o.k. as long as it’s not your ox being gored.
skeneogden, 4:13 pm — “Will any of the protesters ever read the grand jury transcript or examine the evidence?”
Heck, how many of ’em can read?
skeneogden
if they did that, would they have a fun night out looting places, and thinking of themselves as social heroes for grabbing the jewelry, tvs, etc?
“Will any of the protesters ever read the grand jury transcript or examine the evidence?”
Word is Zero didn’t even watch the prosecutor’s presentation.
Let’s remember that Obama once said that the most important characteristic he sought in judges was compassion; not intelligence, not dispassion, not judgement, not learning, not fidelity to law. Compassion: emotional, subjective, arbitrary.
There are very frustrated black folks and very super caring, bleeding heart people who always want to put it to the man, take down the establishment and burn baby burn and they have to work harder than ever to find a cause to take it to the streets and now they have one. There will be a repeat tonight all over the US and I suppose there are plenty of people who want to take action and do a bit more burning and looting when they have already won most everything they could ever dream of.
On what planet do they think a nice policeman with a good record set out to put it to the blacks and why was he not entitled to defend himself from a vicious attack? I suspect that the evidence means nothing if it would dampen their zeal to make a statement and get even for perceived injustice. I hope I am wrong and all of the demonstrations are peaceful, with a lot of singing and sighing and no burning, looting or police over reaction so now we will wait and see what the this night brings us.
Iustitia (Lady Justice) has just been found – without blindfold, scales, sword, and knickers — seems she can be had for the easy taking. Talk about a rape culture.
My solution would be to put a perimeter of LEOs around Ferguson and let the residents decide how they wish to proceed. If the thugs out number the decent, responsible people or if the decent people do out number the thugs but choose not to put down the thugs then so be it. Choose burn and destroy or put down the matches, clean up the rubble, and get on with your life. We are not living in the days of strange fruit. We live in an era of bend over backwards affirmative action. An era where the first afro president has done much to increase poverty among blacks.
Yes, police do on rare occasions kill or injure citizens without just cause and more rarely they are not held accountable. That was not the case with Gentle Giant Brown or skittles Trayvon.
People who are intellectually incapable of understanding the rule of law will never understand justice.
JVerMeer: “Obama once said that the most important characteristic he sought in judges was compassion.” I agree with you that we do not want judges to base the decision in a case before them on how they feel.
I don’t want judges to be “fair.” I want judges to interpret the law exactly as it is written. If instead, a judge tries to be “fair,” he is putting himself in the place of the legislature, and the one branch that belongs to the people. The great experiment of this nation is whether the people can govern themselves, i.e. whether we can make laws for ourselves. We can only do that through our legislatures.
It means that we will have to start reaching agreement with each other in order to govern ourselves, or we will be governed by a tyrant. Fewer people disagree with that statement these days than did a few short years ago.
A few things strike me about this.
1. We know that UNjustified, racist shootings by police are rare. How? well, because This One, which was more than justified, is the one the race hustlers chose to make their cause celebre.
2. People who said Obama looked bad in the split screen TV press con just aren’t thinking it through. Pres. Gaylord has said in one of his autobiographies (ugh) that he specializes in talking in Reasoned Tones to Typical White People, allaying our fears of the Black Man thereby (and, unstated, the corollary that we’ll be so pitifully grateful that we’ll give him anything he wants).
The press con was a classic setup, and quite deliberate. The message was, “You see what I/we are capable of unleashing? You’d better do what I say, or you’ll have to deal with Them.”
Or, as Malcolm X (or Alex Haley, who actually wrote the Autobiography [sic] of Malcolm X) said, “White folks could look at me and at Martin Luther King, and say, ‘If we don’t deal with Dr. King, we may end up having to deal with that Other one: Malcolm X.'” (paraphrasing)
Actually, this is also like a classic sales tactic, called “Red Candle, Black Candle”: Which do you want?
“Justice”, at least for the New York Times is not nearly as important as is tabloid reporting on the significant issues facing Ferguson, MO:
http://www.nytimes.com/news/ferguson/2014/11/24/quiet-wedding-for-darren-wilson-police-officer-in-ferguson-shooting/?_r=0
PUBLISHING DARREN WILSON’S HOME ADDRESS???
Slate went a step further and added a photograph so that any “drive-by” won’t meet the same challenges posed when Spike Lee tweeted out George Zimmerman’s incorrect address:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/11/24/darren_wilson_married_recently_wed_fellow_officer_barbara_spradling.html?wpsrc=fol_tw
For a fairly explicit rejection of the concepts of fact, evidence, and law in favor of feelings, see this diatribe at Salon.
Justice: when people get what they deserve, not one more not one less.
I saw elsewhere on the internet : (314) 398-3951. That’s Natalie Dubose’s business #. This poster called and ordered a cake to be given to someone locally. I will do the same next week.