It’s a weird coincidence that the Phil Spector and John Demjanjuk cases have come to a head at almost the same time. They both really challenge me on what it means to be compassionate and how far the bonds of sympathy should go. Though in slightly different ways.
I think Spector really did kill Lana Clarkson. I also think he’s a nut. A very damaged little human being, who despite the financial resources available to him, never got adequate help. But how do you punish a guy who’s sane enough to maintain a successful career, but not sane enough to resist the temptations caused by uncontrolled paranoia and a gun obsession. And that’s my question: Did he not get help because of the paranoia? Or was he aware of his issues and chose not to get help out of arrogance? I don’t know; maybe that’s even the same thing. Regardless, he is old, tiny and whacko. Not a good recipe for a prisoner. His victim deserves justice. I’m just not sure what that would be.
Then there’s John Demjanjuk. There’s reasonable evidence that he was the most dreaded guard at one of the worst death camp in Nazis occupied Poland. But he’s had an entire life, away from Poland, and away from Sobibor. Maybe he changed in that time. Lived a normal life as a good husband and father. But obviously he didn’t change enough to become an actually good man. A good man would have stepped forward to say “This is what I’ve done. I’m ready for judgment.” He hid. And when he could no longer hide, he tried to avoid prosecution. So maybe he’s not pure evil any more. He’s just the banal form of evil. No longer committing atrocities. Just placidly living with his guilt. For decades, until he’s old and sick. A full, uneventful life that his victims did not get a chance to have. And now he’s asking for mercy. Part of me thinks that he should be hauled into court, on a stretcher, trailing his IV bags, in order to make him face the totality of his sins. It’s what he deserves. And what the people he murdered deserve. But there is still a part of me that wants to honor the decencies of humanity that he ignored. If we have to behave like monsters in order to punish a monster, aren’t we letting evil win? But, if we don’t, and we let him get away with it, all of it, and how much more can we ask those who suffered so much to bear?
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2 comments:
I am with you on this. I don't know what the appropriate punishment is for a nearly 90 year old man. He's obviously not in good health, but should he be deported when he probably won't survive the trip or the punishment once he returns to his home country? I don't know. Not that I think he shouldn't be punished somehow. Just what should his punishment be? At the very least, he should be made to watch Schindler's List, It's a Beautiful Life, Diary of Anne Frank, and a bunch of other movies to hopefully make him feel guilty about the atrocities he's committed.
Can you do what he did and feel guilt? I don't know. And his terminal illness has already taken his freedom. All that's really left is to expose him for who and what he is. At least don't let him die pretending to be a decent human being.
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