Rationalizing doesn’t cut it

Sun., May 3, 2009

The Spokesman-Review

Cal Thomas’ article of April 28 started me thinking about something that Socrates once said. I don’t remember the exact words, but it made a huge impression on me when I first read it and discussed it in a class.

Basically what he said was that no one does anything that they believe to be wrong. In our discussion, we decided that human beings have an almost infinite capacity to rationalize their own behavior. The thief rationalizes thieving. The murderer rationalizes murdering. The liar rationalizes lying. Torturers rationalize their torturing.

The article by Cal Thomas epitomizes that kind of paranoid, twisted thinking that we humans need to get past if we are to evolve any further. Torture is and should be illegal – period. No amount of rationalizing can change that.

Candy Frankel

Spokane

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