User:Lysander/A rant concerning Alan Turing

This is an essay. The views expressed are not necessarily those of BoyWiki.

Someone who recently wrote to me "are you a pedo? I'm not going to go reporting you if you say yes, but I'm not going to hang around with one either" later posted to Facebook:

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What the government did to Turing is enraging for me. What they did to tens of thousands of homosexuals is beyond outrageous, but they're abstract, to me. Not Turing, he feels personal. He's why I have my career. To say he's a fellow geek is giving myself way too much credit, but he's my peeps.

”

I notice that normally when people are thrown in prison, people will make a point of noting that, even if the law is unfair, the person still bears some responsibility for going to prison because (1) he knew what he was doing was illegal and (2) he had an opportunity to change the law through the democratic process.

People rarely bring this up with regard to Alan Turing, though. There is only outrage against how the government treated him. How is he any different than, say, a pot smoker, or any of the other people who continue to be arrested because they insist on enjoying forbidden pleasures?

I think the difference is that homosexual behavior is now legal. When behavior is still illegal, people feel the need to shift some of the blame for people's going to prison away the government, or from the electorate, to the offenders themselves. That way, they can avoid some guilt for not doing anything about it. They can say, "Although these prisoners and their families are suffering a lot, the offender had the power to prevent it by not committing the crime. Since there is already a solution available to this problem, which any person can implement, I need not worry so much about it."

It takes zero courage to denounce the government for persecuting Alan Turing, now that the battle against institutionalized homophobia is basically won. Denouncing the persecutions that are still ongoing, and that are fiercely defended by the public, is another story.

On the other hand, it's good if we use what happened to Alan Turing as inspiration for fighting to stop other persecutions, as when John Gettman pointed out:

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There are individuals in society, any society, that seek to impose their will on others at any cost. Even at the cost of a national treasure like Alan Turing. This is certainly a good time to draw a parallel between this story and marijuana prohibition today. Certainly prohibition is a policy that is pursued and supported by individuals as a great crusade that must be won at any cost, even at the cost of 700,000 or more arrests per year, because in their opinion this is required for the moral betterment and/or cleansing of society.

”