>>Who is worse, a commie spy who is on Castro's payroll, or someone else who, willingly but unwittingly, provides comfort and support for Castro's inhuman deeds?<<
There are two basic ways that modern, civilized societies treat outliers. One is to show disapproval by treating them as outcasts. The other way is to try to interact with them to, over time, convert them to the desired behavior. The first reinforces and heralds the desired behavior in a way that is very clear as it punishes and ostracizes non-conformance. The latter gently and positively encourages conformance by exposing the miscreant to the benefits of conformance through exposure and example.
We see a mix of these two approaches all over. We see it in in the way different people and different boards on SI treat outliers where some people gang up and try to run them off while others try to inform their thinking, draw them out, and build trust by finding common ground. We also see both approaches in the way nations treat each other, such as in U.S. policy toward Cuba or China.
Reasonable people can disagree as to which approach is better. There are benefits and disadvantages of each and both are useful tools in the toolkit. In most cases, I tend to favor the latter. I think that humiliating, ostracizing, and hurting are not likely to change anyone (person or culture) and are mainly effective where you can physically separate the miscreants from the rest of the world such as in penal systems with death penalties or life sentences. Rejection without permanent physical separation just makes oddballs and misfits more angry and hostile and is part of the reason why we end up with incidents such as Littleton. The downside of the positive approach is that the failure to condemn appears to be giving aid and comfort to the enemy and looks to true believers like a weakening of valued principles.
No matter how much one hates Castro, it is important to recognize that proponents of the second approach don't disagree about the odiousness of the behavior or the desired end, only on which approach is likely to be constructive and effective. There is no need to demonize them.
Karen |
