I think if we wish to live in any kind of a moral universe, we must hold the perpetrators of violence responsible for the violence they perpetrate. It's very simple. The criminal is responsible for the crime.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of accountability in a moral society, asserting that individuals must be held responsible for their actions.
In this quote, Salman Rushdie reflects on the necessity of responsibility in maintaining a moral framework within society. He suggests that for a universe grounded in morality to exist, it is critical to demand accountability from those who engage in violent acts. By clearly asserting that criminals must be held accountable for their crimes, he simplifies the concept of justice, suggesting that recognizing and addressing wrongdoing is vital for a just society.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about criminal justice reform.
I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
faith without doubt is addiction
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
Let soul speak with the silent articulation of a face.
Men might as well be imprisoned, as excluded from the means of earning their bread.
When a golden girl can win Prayer from out the lips of sin, When the barren almond bears, And a little child gives away its tears, Then shall all the house be still And peace come to Canterville.
The people will learn to feel the dignity of man. They will not merely demand their rights, which have been trampled in the dust, but themselves will take them - make them their own.
Judging yourself to be full of virtue paralyses. Judging yourself to be full of guilt also paralyses.
We consider bibles and religions divine I do not say they are not divine. I say they have all grown out of you, and may grow out of you still. It is not they who give the life, it is you who give the life.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.