Anybody out there ever watched Judgment at Nuremberg? It's Stanley Kramer's version of the trials of the German judges after WWII. One of the defendants at the dock is Ernst Janning. Lawyer, teacher, writer, internationally respected and the former head of the German Ministry of Justice under Hitler. In that capacity he turned his back on much of what he believed and stood for. For the good of the nation; supporting measures that started out as temporary and became tragically, inhumanly permanent.
"...The
principle of criminal law in every civilized society has this in common: any
person who sways another to commit murder, any person who furnishes the lethal
weapon for the purpose of the crime, any person who is an accessory to the
crime - is guilty. Herr Rolfe further asserts that the defendant Janning was an
extraordinary jurist and acted in what he thought was the best interest of this
country.
There
is truth in this also. Janning, to be sure, is a tragic figure. We believe he
loathed the evil he did. But compassion for the present torture of his soul
must not beget forgetfulness of the torture and the death of millions by the Government
of which he was a part. Janning's record and his fate illuminate the most
shattering truth that has emerged from this trial: If he and all of the other
defendants had been degraded perverts, if all of the leaders of the Third Reich
had been sadistic monsters and maniacs, then these events would have no more
moral significance than an earthquake, or any other natural catastrophe.
But
this trial has shown that under a national crisis, ordinary - even able and
extraordinary - men can delude themselves into the commission of crimes so vast
and heinous that they beggar the imagination. No one who has sat through the
trial can ever forget them: men sterilized because of political belief; a
mockery made of friendship and faith; the murder of children. How easily it can
happen. There are those in our own country too who today speak of the
"protection of country" - of 'survival'. A decision must be made in
the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at
its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of
the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient - to look the other way.
Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's
not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands
for when standing for something is the most difficult! Before the people of the
world, let it now be noted that here, in our decision, this is what we stand
for: justice, truth, and the value of a single human being."
- "Judgment at Nuremberg
What can I say? We've come a long way baby. In the totally wrong direction. Not just the wars of convenience, the Patriot Act or the TSA. Walmart is currently conducting an internal investigation of its own business practices. And what started out as an investigation into bribes paid to make it easier to build stores in Mexico is expanding to include other countries such as India and Brazil.
When the story broke there was comment after comment "well, they do things differently in other countries and if this is what it took to get the job done...." Fill the political expedient of your choice and look out for nightmares.
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