(no subject)
Yesterday I finished watching Milk...and what a truly remarkable film that is. The determination to fight for what you believe in, regardless of how many times you fall, how many people are against you, how much oppression you face.
And it kinda got me thinking.
My course, the law course, has got to be one of the most prejudiced courses out there. You go out there and ask people why they would or would not want to be a lawyer. Among the woulds you'd undoubtedly find: the pay is good, which is in my opinion, a very shallow reason indeed. Among the wouldn'ts you'd come across something like: "Ma tarax se niddefendi qattiel!" (I would never defend a murderer!) And it's funny because in many people's minds the first connotations to anything law is criminal law which is in essence only a fraction of what the general concept encompasses.
But let's say you have to defend a murderer. To begin with: is he a murderer? Who are you to judge him to be so without having seen the facts? Without having even so much as heard any testimonies or seen any evidence? What if the man/woman were actually suffering from some mental disease, acting in self defence, what if it were an accident? What if?
It's funny how so many people are willing to condemn any individual in the wrong without having so much as sniffed at any facts. We live in a society which is far too easy on the judging and condemning and less so on the willingness to hear (unless it's gossip).
And besides, for all the people out there who would not be willing to defend a person accused of murder; what of the rapist, the robber, the fraud, the human trafficker, the parent who has abandoned their child, the person charged with infringing those fundamental human rights we are all entitled to? Bad does not only equate to murder. But above all, we are no supreme beings to judge the actions of others without having given them adequate space and time to defend themselves.
The right to prove an allegation wrong is a fundamental human right - did you know that? Perhaps we're too busy putting our noses in other people's businesses and condemning the actions of others to realise that our own actions are far from exemplary.
And it kinda got me thinking.
My course, the law course, has got to be one of the most prejudiced courses out there. You go out there and ask people why they would or would not want to be a lawyer. Among the woulds you'd undoubtedly find: the pay is good, which is in my opinion, a very shallow reason indeed. Among the wouldn'ts you'd come across something like: "Ma tarax se niddefendi qattiel!" (I would never defend a murderer!) And it's funny because in many people's minds the first connotations to anything law is criminal law which is in essence only a fraction of what the general concept encompasses.
But let's say you have to defend a murderer. To begin with: is he a murderer? Who are you to judge him to be so without having seen the facts? Without having even so much as heard any testimonies or seen any evidence? What if the man/woman were actually suffering from some mental disease, acting in self defence, what if it were an accident? What if?
It's funny how so many people are willing to condemn any individual in the wrong without having so much as sniffed at any facts. We live in a society which is far too easy on the judging and condemning and less so on the willingness to hear (unless it's gossip).
And besides, for all the people out there who would not be willing to defend a person accused of murder; what of the rapist, the robber, the fraud, the human trafficker, the parent who has abandoned their child, the person charged with infringing those fundamental human rights we are all entitled to? Bad does not only equate to murder. But above all, we are no supreme beings to judge the actions of others without having given them adequate space and time to defend themselves.
The right to prove an allegation wrong is a fundamental human right - did you know that? Perhaps we're too busy putting our noses in other people's businesses and condemning the actions of others to realise that our own actions are far from exemplary.