What Did You Do To Deserve This??

Question

Standing out on a large nondescript field one morning you hear a commotion and turn to see a mob of irate people headed in you direction. From their expressions and mutterings you get the impression that you are somehow involved but all you can tell for sure is that some of them are shouldering a golden calf. Some say that you are a transgressor guilty of acts of omission. Others quiet vehemently accuse you of acts of commission.

What Did You Do? Are you guilty are can you muster an appropriate defense?

Answer 1

First of all H. , I'm suing you for plagiarizing my soon-to-be published autobiography.

One of the facets I have encountered in these situations: like any war, even the most justified -- the cost in time,  human life, and the general damage to the economy of engaging a determined enemy is huge.  Make your highest estimate and multiply that by a factor of ten, at least.

I am entertained, and amused by watching "Law and Order", in particular -- which features a realistic, but mythical fairy-land of Justice where lawyers and judges care about The Law. The truth is, most members of the legal profession I have encountered, beyond their everyday hourly billing, treat Lady Justice as if she was a plain w***e, and do so because they see Her as no more than that -- at their service.

In the last ten years, and not willingly, I have fought legal and quasi-legal battles against disreputable doctors, hospitals, and elder-care facilities (on my mother's behalf when she was diagnosed with terminal metastatic breast cancer), against a church and The Church (in the form of Grace Church, New York and the Bishop and Episcopal Diocese of New York --  whose minions and leaders could give the Borgias lessons in corruption and intrigue), and against no less than three Alcoholics Anonymous groups in different states, whose "Boards" attacked and expelled members (including the disabled), each time using fictitious claims of sexual deviancy to cover-up their own gross financial fraud-schemes.  In addition, I myself have suffered broken bones from fights instigated by young men in bars who had some "fact" about me whispered in their drunken ear, because I played pool too well or talked to the wrong girl -- and had those "facts" become common knowledge in the community where I lived: that is, until I was evicted from my apartment as an "undesirable".  White, I have been intentionally run over on my bicycle  by a Miami Beach city bus by a black bus driver, and legally advised to pretend it was an "accident" when the suit came to court because insurance would not cover otherwise, and learned that the driver had "witnesses" that I had taunted him with racial insults (from the pavement with a broken leg).

Your image of the "mob of irate people" is fairly apt, and describes the perpetrators themselves well enough.  But what is really disturbing is to see the vast majority, or even the totality of the everyday members of each of these three different ostensibly beneficial sanctuaries simply ignore what is going on around them like so many sheep in the nondescript field in which your own story is set.

The quotation is, "For evil to succeed, it is enough that good men do nothing."  In situations of this kind, as in any of real jeopardy, it is most important to find an important ally who believes in your cause.  Unfortuately, the body politic in our society no longer considers it a civic  reponsibility to fulfill this role.  My experience is that where there might be some soul-satisfaction in fighting alone for one's own rights or for a just cause, that beyond that satisfaction the outcome is almost invariably to lose.  The time spent answering allegations about one's own motives and what actually caused the conflict (and damaged reputation) usually outweigh any self-esteem one gains.  Personally, my hair has turned gray, and my teeth ground down to the gums.  My inspiration comes from those who who have surpassed my own bitterness, like Nelson Mandela, who spent 17 years imprisoned (and saw his wife organize murder in his name) -- yet walked free without anger to become the leader of his nation.  And for the last two years, from Titou, who is joy personified. With him (and just between you and me, perhaps a trained seal -- !), I would settle for plain citizenship in some civilized place or another, but wonder truly, daily, if such a place exists anymore.

That is the sad truth, no matter how many episodes of individual heroism the movies and TV may throw our way like so many bones.  In the end, I will say this:  What distinguishes real evil is not its vehemence, but its banality.

Answer 2

"I wasn't worshipping it, I was trying to destroy it!"

Then...

"That's not true! The pentagram was the only thing keeping that cow from eating your children!"

Then...

"You trust her? She's a WITCH!"

Then...

"It's not even mine, I was holding it for a friend... you don't know her."

And finally...

"I can't tell you that. It's a matter of National Security. Do you WANT the terrorists to win? That cow SUPPORTS OUR TROOPS!"

^Sweet victory. :-)

Answer 3

Obviously I substituted Decaf.

Answer 4

Sometimes we can be doing nothing and still get into trouble, being at the wrong place at the wrong time is not good. All you can is all you can do. Tell the truth, be nice, and usually everything will work out.

Answer 5

Interesting question. Interesting reference with the golden calf. Sometimes doing nothing is worse than participating.

Answer 6

If you have to improvise on your feet, remember: A wise man is always on the look out for the shifting motives behind the interests of the interested.    ... Mount your defense accordingly; or better yet, get down on your knees and pretend to be praying to The Holy Golden Calf.    ... What a Calf can bless, No shoulder can curse.

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