Huainanzi - Entry 67

Trey Smith

In an ideal state, those of high social standing are not given lighter sentences, and those of low social status are not given heavier sentences. Those who break the law are punished even if they are otherwise good, while those who conform to the law are not punished even if they are worthless.
~ a passage from The Book of Leadership and Strategy by Thomas Cleary ~

This passage is, of course, about the evils of favoritism. When some individuals or groups are favored and others are not, then injustice is the rule of the day.

If we look at the present-day United States, we can see this principle in action. Corporate criminals, by and large, are allowed to get away with crimes on a mass scale, while everyday Americans must toe an ever more rigid line. Blacks and other minority groups generally receive harsher sentences for the same crimes committed by whites.

When a white (and often, Christian) individual commits some sort of atrocity, people come out of the woodwork to claim he acted as a "lone wolf" and that his actions are the result of mental illness and/or an inability to deal with the various stresses of life. When the accused is a Muslim, the same people come out of the woodwork to label the action as terrorism and to suggest that ALL Muslims are culpable to some degree.

To read the introduction to this ongoing series, go here.