Tom ... As in Morgan: Going by Their Own Rules

By Tom Morgan
Finger Lakes Times
October 9, 2014

http://www.fltimes.com/opinion/article_78944710-4ef3-11e4-9e76-ebb4978db391.html

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Forgive me for my thickness, please, but there are items in the news a lot that I don’t understand.

One is how various institutions act as if they have their own laws. For instance, we know officials in the Roman Catholic Church ignored the law in various countries. They knew some priests were violating the laws, yet they chose to deal with the priests instead of calling in police. They disciplined some; they shielded others.

Point is that they acted as if they had their own laws, as if their churches were another country. They apparently believed the laws that applied to the rest of us did not apply to members of their clergy. They knew about child molesting and did not report it. Does this mean priests could have murdered kids and not been reported by fellow clergy? Simply because officials felt the church had better ways of dealing with the crimes?

Officials at Penn State had similar attitudes when their football coach broke the law and molested children. The officials dealt with the crime in their own way. They felt that Penn State law trumped U.S. and state law.

Meanwhile various universities ignore various protections that dwell in law. ’Tis the era of political correctness, as you know. Schools tell students they cannot say certain words, they cannot make certain gestures, they cannot demonstrate. They must ask permission for this, double check on that when dating.

Students who violate these campus laws can be punished by student courts. They can be tried according to rules created by the schools, rules that make a mockery of justice.

When did universities become countries? On this side of the campus border you can say and do this; on the other side, you are committing a crime. On this side you have due process; on the other side, forget about it. In the United States you have free speech, but on this campus you do not.

Call me thick, but isn’t the student still a citizen? Protected by U.S. laws? Beyond that, isn’t he a customer? Isn’t the university a service provider? The customer spends $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 a year of his and taxpayer money for this? From a school that is awash in taxpayer money?

In my thickness I also don’t understand why our leaders won’t call a Muslim a Muslim. And an Islamacist an Islamacist. They concoct any number of polite names for those who are causing havoc. Our president is totally guilty of this.

And even before they use whatever the current moniker is, they must remind us we are not at war with Islam. Islam is a religion of peace, they must assure us.

Fine. But, tell me this: Are the savages who have felled our buildings and planes Muslims? Are the savages who have been staging beheading parties Muslims? Are the prisoners in Guantanamo Muslims? If they are not, we have gone to unnecessary expense and extremes. To supply copies of the Koran and paint arrows pointing toward Mecca for them.

Imagine if a small army of Christian extremists roamed parts of the world. Imagine they knocked down the odd building, killing thousands. They blew holes in the odd ship. They destroyed planes and passengers. They butchered fellow workers. All in the name of Christ.

Imagine they screamed “Christ is King” when they committed atrocities. Imagine if the first thing they demanded when tossed in the clink were Bibles. Imagine if they earmarked entries in the Old Testament that call for an eye for an eye.

Do you suppose the president and other leaders might, might call them Christian extremists? Or Christian terrorists?

And do you think maybe the Pope and other Christian leaders might be quick to denounce these Christian terrorists? Do you think they might ex-communicate them? Do you suppose they might expunge them from their parishes? From their religions? If they did not, do you suppose our leaders might demand they do so?

I have yet to hear our leaders demand such action from leaders of the Muslim religion. I have yet to hear the most prominent of those religious leaders speak out against the Muslim savages among them.

Call me thick. I don’t understand such things. Maybe you do?

From Tom ... as in Morgan.