A child is kidnapped. Inevitably, people start talking about how horrible the parents must be to have allowed the child to walk to a friend’s house. A police officer is involved in a high speed chase that ends in innocent fatalities. People start discussing why in the world the officer had the audacity to chase the criminal. A man starts answering ads on craigslist and robbing or murdering the women he meets on the site. Today’s front-page, national news story is all about how the founder of craigslist is to blame for allowing the ads to be placed.
The saddest thing is that in each of these recent news stories, there is a clear “bad guy.” I simply cannot understand why the public feels the need to condemn the innocent. In many cases, they blame the victims. Why? The sad fact is that the moral lines have been blurred in our world. They have been blurred to the point where people cannot bring themselves to condemn the guilty. Instead, they justify excusing the actual criminal by trying to spread the guilt around. It is just another symptom of our trend to never want to accept personal responsibility. It is just another symptom of the societal ills that I talk about every day.
To the parents whose children are victims of senseless crimes: I cry for you when I read your stories. I hold my own precious children a little tighter because I know that it was only chance that made you the victim and not me. There is no sense in what happened to you and your family, but I wish you justice.
To the police officer who was attempting to protect my life and liberties when the unthinkable happened: Thank you for your service to the community. You put your life on the line every day; there is no reason to sell your soul as well. I pray you can let go of the agony you are facing. Your desire to serve and protect is a virtue and in no way deserving of condemnation.
To the businessmen who create so much for our community and are constantly sued and condemned because some people choose to use your creations for their own evil: Continue to stand up for freedom. You are not to blame for the decisions of others. I hope that the constant stream of law suits does not discourage others like you from taking a chance on industry and business.
To those who post hateful comments on the internet condemning the innocent because society can no longer bring itself to put the weight of guilt on the guilty: Actually, I have nothing to say to you.
If we continue to blame the innocent, there may come a time when people decide to stop doing good, for fear they will be blamed for other people’s evil. Of course, we could just enact a whole bunch of laws that blame the victims as well, completely sacrificing freedom to the regulation gods...wait, we're already doing that.
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