Collective punishment:

Last week Pat Robertson said that the citizens of Dover, Pennsylvania, shouldn't expect the protection of God, now that they voted to replace the school board. Last week Bill O'Reilly said that the citizens of San Francisco, California, shouldn't expect the protection of the U.S. Army, now that they voted (or rather, the city council voted) to keep recruiters off of campuses.

Setting aside the arguments for or against either vote, the fact remains that there were people in both municipalities that actually agreed with Robertson or O'Reilly (about the candidates/issue, not the subsequent lack of protection). Yet both men are calling for punishment of all citizens. That's collective punishment, a subset of collective responsibility. It's a primitive moral code, but not unknown in recent history. From Wikipedia:

Joseph Stalin's mass deportations of several nations of the USSR to remote regions (including the Chechens, Crimean Tatars) or the Nazi atrocities at Lidice and Oradour-sur-Glane are examples of collective punishment.

That's the company Robertson and O'Reilly are part of.

NOTE: O'Reilly continues to bang the gong on the topic this morning on his radio show - mostly as an excuse to engage in making fun of gays (e.g. "Their uniform will be fabulous. More leather and less khaki.")


posted by Quiddity at 11/14/2005 10:16:00 AM