If you can't kill the messenger
Try killing the boyfriend.
We’re still in Relatavia for one last visit today and this time into the murky world of honour killing. Jonathan has been going out with Sally, who’s a Lovelander (not that that really matters) without his mother’s permission. She summons the women of the family together who decide that Jonathan must pay the penalty for his filial impiety, and shoot him.
A policewoman come round to check on the noise as the family is disposing of the body. When she learns what happened, she tells them it’s now against the law and she’ll have to impose a fine. Mother is outraged and thinks everyone has lost their sense of right and wrong.
Is the policewoman right to impose the fine?
As one of the Relatavian delegation to Hairland noted, it might not’ve been right yesterday; it might not be right tomorrow; but if it’s right today, then it must be respected. In other words, if Relatavian law says it’s wrong, then the policewoman ought to fine the family. Mother may be outraged, but she has to obey the law, even if it was passed a second before Jonathan was killed.
Honour killings in the main seem to affect women to a greater degree than men. There have been a number of instances of honour killings in the UK which have, fortunately, resulted in convictions. Although such behaviour may be tolerated in Pakistan and other countries, it isn’t in the UK where law should affect everyone without exception. Murder is murder no matter what the reason might be. It’s then up to the legal process to be applied and a jury to decide whether the culprit is guilty or whether there might be exonerating circumstances; although I doubt whether some uncivilised custom in one part of the world would be regarded as an exonerating circumstance by a British jury.
I’d guess that in societies where honour killings are a custom, the rule of law is (almost) non-existent so that matters of justice, right or wrong, devolve onto the community because the police are unreliable. It’s interesting to observe that here in China people are comparatively indifferent to the police. Motorists don’t change their behaviour because they encounter a police car. When I’ve seen migrant workers having a fight in public, there’s no wail of sirens because no one’s called the police, and they themselves, if they’re monitoring the action on CCTV, aren’t interested.
Honour killings are an abuse of human rights and – frequently, typically – women’s rights. They are a mark of intolerant, immature societies. Custom be damned in this case.
A policewoman come round to check on the noise as the family is disposing of the body. When she learns what happened, she tells them it’s now against the law and she’ll have to impose a fine. Mother is outraged and thinks everyone has lost their sense of right and wrong.
Is the policewoman right to impose the fine?
As one of the Relatavian delegation to Hairland noted, it might not’ve been right yesterday; it might not be right tomorrow; but if it’s right today, then it must be respected. In other words, if Relatavian law says it’s wrong, then the policewoman ought to fine the family. Mother may be outraged, but she has to obey the law, even if it was passed a second before Jonathan was killed.
Honour killings in the main seem to affect women to a greater degree than men. There have been a number of instances of honour killings in the UK which have, fortunately, resulted in convictions. Although such behaviour may be tolerated in Pakistan and other countries, it isn’t in the UK where law should affect everyone without exception. Murder is murder no matter what the reason might be. It’s then up to the legal process to be applied and a jury to decide whether the culprit is guilty or whether there might be exonerating circumstances; although I doubt whether some uncivilised custom in one part of the world would be regarded as an exonerating circumstance by a British jury.
I’d guess that in societies where honour killings are a custom, the rule of law is (almost) non-existent so that matters of justice, right or wrong, devolve onto the community because the police are unreliable. It’s interesting to observe that here in China people are comparatively indifferent to the police. Motorists don’t change their behaviour because they encounter a police car. When I’ve seen migrant workers having a fight in public, there’s no wail of sirens because no one’s called the police, and they themselves, if they’re monitoring the action on CCTV, aren’t interested.
Honour killings are an abuse of human rights and – frequently, typically – women’s rights. They are a mark of intolerant, immature societies. Custom be damned in this case.
We leave behind the section on relativism today and find ourselves at war tomorrow. Someone set us up the bomb.
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