Age has nothing to do with being evil
SOME people have a real talent for arguing that black's white.
And the best are those who work in public services.
You'll know what I mean if you've ever had the temerity to suggest they've dropped a clanger or that some improvement they've introduced to this or that is actually making things worse.
In the blink of an eye, they'll have you blinded by bureaucratic science, often accompanied by the kind of patronising condescension reserved for a precocious child who tells teacher her sums are wrong.
As you succumb to their well-rehearsed reasons why theirs is the only solution, you gradually come to the conclusion that you are unredeemably dumb and that you must accept without question the statements and actions of officials.
They know best.
Or do they?
Now, I am the first to accept that I am no expert...in just about any field! Jack of All Trades. That's my lot in life.
But I do feel these days that my opinions are equal to the next man. And, on many occasions, equal to the next expert.
How else do we explain the blunders we see where a father was repeatedly raping his daughters and fathering children by them?
This family was well known to a hundred officials, all of them experts in their field. And no doubt if a Joe Soap like me had asked them what was going wrong, they'd have given me that condescending smile I mentioned earlier and told me not to be a silly boy and leave important matters to people who know better.
And I probably would have.
Today, though, I am not so sure.
Particularly when you have some twit like the Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, apparently making excuses for the evil monsters who lured Jamie Bulger to his death or who set upon two youngsters in Edlington and tortured one of them to the point of death.
They are not 'intrinsically evil', said Mr Balls. Nice use of the word 'intrinsic', which can be interpreted in 'inherited'.
But the fact remains is that these four boys were/are all evil when they put their dirty little hands on their victims.
I don't care what turned them into monsters. I don't lose any sleep over the fact that they had bad childhoods. My concern is for their victims: innocents who were subjected to unspeakable horrors by evil children.
Yes, there is a time and a reason to delve into their backgrounds to find out what went so horribly wrong to set young lives on such despicable paths. It may teach our so-called experts how to recognise the blindingly obvious and save others from wandering into a world of hatred and malice.
But I take issue with a Cabinet Minister who draws a distinction between evil acts and labelling children as evil. The kids who tortured those youngsters in Edlington, who took Jamie Bulger's life: they are all evil.
The distinction Mr Balls should be examining is between explaining something and excusing it.
He showed unpalatable sympathy for the hateful torturers of Edlington when, in a clear bid to excuse their actions, he said: 'The abuse and harm and suffering that they went through in previous years, it was tragic what happened to them'.
To me, this shows the mindset of our liberal establishment which is too concerned with making excuses rather than admitting something is wrong, intrinsically wrong, and sorting it out.
At least he had the sense to back off from the call to raise the age of criminal responsibility from the present 10 years to 12.
That would have been a moral home goal for the Government and further evidence of how out of touch they are with the reality of our world.
Evil, whatever its source, is to be found in people regardless of age.
And to excuse it through the mistaken belief that they are little mites led astray is to ignore the fact that there is a victim who faces a lifetime of suffering. They are the ones who deserve sympathy.
What do you think? Add your comment below.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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