Amnesty International – saving the ass of our fellow madman

Today, Amnesty International heroes are being provided air time by their accomplices in the international mainstream media to concern us with the rights of mad people interned at Guantanamo Bay. How come people making cash and careers out of being so full of the rights of others always come over as being so full of themselves?

Frit, like any other civilised person, abhors the idea of brutality and torture. Unfortunately, Frit is also very upset when mad people commit terrorist atrocities. Those who blow to pieces innocent strangers on their way to work or burn them at their office desks have, in Frit’s opinion, opted out of the human race and therefore out of their human rights. Their suffering is of no concern. So when a policeman employed to protect society (and paid a large sum of money by society for so doing) sits across the desk from Mohamed the mad terrorist, saying “Right, Sir, we know you’ve put a bomb on the school bus, which school bus is it?”, and Mohamed the mad terrorist replies “I have a right to silence”, Frit would deem the policeman guilty of letting society down when he replies “So you have, Sir, may I make you a cup of tea and introduce you to a hero from Amnesty International?”

In such a situation, Frit would tend to think the policeman is accepting the large sum of money without accepting any of the responsibility. Frit would see it as the policeman’s simple duty to repeat the question with more determination and state-of-the-art insistence. Principles are strategies for achieving desirable ends; they are not convenient excuses to dodge behind when unpleasant responsibility calls.