Alan Turing - Should He Be Pardoned?

[Declan]

It may seem strange but all I remember learning about Turing was that he was a brilliant mathematician, just seems to me the rest doesn't really matter unless you have some sort of complex over what he did in private.

 

Correct and that would be the case now, mostly. But this is why the pardon is neccessary, because the police politicians and the judicial system at that time had a complex about what went on in private and chose to perscute him.

[jimbms]

It may seem strange but all I remember learning about Turing was that he was a brilliant mathematician, just seems to me the rest doesn't really matter unless you have some sort of complex over what he did in private.

 

Correct and that would be the case now, mostly. But this is why the pardon is neccessary, because the police politicians and the judicial system at that time had a complex about what went on in private and chose to perscute him.

Very true, by the same tune we should pardon everyone who has been hung over the last 200 yrs for crimes such as theft etc or thise goaled for minor offences that now would warrent a small fine at most, where does it all end? What happened in the past has gone so maybe it is best to just leave in the past and learn from mistakes.

[Vulgarian]

Very true, by the same tune we should pardon everyone who has been hung over the last 200 yrs for crimes such as theft etc or thise goaled for minor offences that now would warrent a small fine at most, where does it all end? What happened in the past has gone so maybe it is best to just leave in the past and learn from mistakes.

 

Good point. Britain has a long history of human rights abuses, but they took place when our modern western liberal ideas about rights were not recognised. To apologise for them fails in the purpose of an apology - that is the admission of guilt by the offending party to the victim, expressing regret for their actions. Seeing as no living person in these cases is directly to blame, and no one directly victimised, what purpose does an apology serve? As Vinnie said it does highlight issues and brings the injustices of the past into the light of public awareness, but this could be achieved in other ways than a hollow, cringing apology. I don't buy this idea that the government as a continuous entity is culpable in atrocities of ages past either.

 

Why has this particular historical violation of modern ideas of justice been singled out for an apology? I believe someone started a petition. It certainly wasn't instigated by the government - all they have done is predicably bowed to pressure from the people who started it all. It's a stupid line to follow, because, as jimbms says, if we apologise for this, what else must we say sorry for?