When I write these blogs/writings/updates I only make one draft and a carbon copy in case it gets “disappeared.” I’ll write a short piece, go over it once quickly and send it out. Well, yesterday I wrote a bit about the new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and I forgot to mention something very important. In her nomination acceptance speech — which I listened to on the radio — she spoke of how she was a prosecutor with the New York district attorneys office. I can’t remember the exact verbatim quote but Ms. Sotomayor talked about how she “prosecuted violent crimes that destroy our communities.”
Her statement reminded me of typical right-wing rhetoric, rhetoric that stems from the short-sighted belief that the causes of crime rest solely with the criminals themselves and the main problem with society is criminal activity. This type of perspective is a result of a broader belief in the Free Will, that most terrifyingly illogical concept which, like an invincible sickly weed, has infected the psyche of so many, choking off any hope of rational critical-thought analysis of any issue or situation. Judge Sotomayor may have simply been attempting to sound “tough on crime” in order to present herself as a good moderate and calm the fears of those on the right who absurdly believe that she’s some type of radical liberal. (The Republican politicians certainly don’t really believe this but it seems they’ve successfully indoctrinated their support base with this belief.)
One can engage in endless conjecture concerning Justice Sonia Sotomayor but I guess we’ll really just have to wait and see…
R.