Letter of the Day - The majority are not always right
THE EDITOR, Sir:
MR. IAN Boyne's article in the Sunday Gleaner December 9, 2001, has both redefined ethics and logic. Mr. Boyne seems to stand on the premise, that, however, outrageous an idea, however, brutal an act, so long as it can find majority support in the population, it can be justified and continued. Well, there is no doubt in my mind that when Adolph Hitler perpetrated the holocaust, an overwhelming majority of Germans supported him. Without doubt, if a poll was taken in Jerusalem of the first Good Friday the crucifixion of Jesus might have had majority support.
History undoubtedly is replete with instances of genocidal action getting overwhelming support in countries where it was carried out. Mr Boyne might well want to ask and answer the question, when was it that right and wrong was decided by taking a poll? Without apologies to anyone, I am definitely not one of the persons who believe that the "voice of people is at all times the voice of God".
But Mr. Boyne's article has not taken us any further along in understanding why such a vast majority of Jamaicans support Mr. Adams. Instead Mr. Boyne has substituted the numbers for his ethics, or any reasoning at all.
So if a majority say Mr. Adams is right, he has to be right and doing a good job. Maybe Mr. Adams rather than being a saviour and patriot is a product of our decay.
Law and order is decaying, moral values are compromised beyond recognition. The political authorities cannot control crime. The "solution" has to be, let the police go about and shoot as many gunmen as possible. If in the process of so doing some innocent people are shot, too bad, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. In short, the law-enforcers must be lawless, to keep the law. I have seen this type of mindless "solution" over and over in the last 30 years. It has not worked.
