[whiteperil] Sean: Shame

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Posted by Sean:
Shame
http://whiteperil.com/posts/1175525606.shtml


   The thinking behind statements like [1]this one, by the father of
   murdered English teacher Lindsay Hawker, disturbs me:

     The killing of a British language teacher whose naked and battered
     body was found outside Tokyo has "brought shame" to Japan, her
     father said Sunday, as the British Ambassador urged the public to
     help the police investigation.
     "My daughter loved this country. She loved meeting Japanese people
     and thought of Japan as an honorable society," William Hawker said
     in a statement read out Sunday by British Ambassador to Japan
     Graham Fry.
     "My daughter's killer has now brought shame on your country. He
     must be caught," Hawker was quoted as saying.

   I realize that he's grieving for his lost daughter, and if he'd made
   the "shame" comment during an emotional outburst under stress, it
   would have been very understandable. But this was a prepared
   statement, and it seems to hold Japan to a standard of safety that one
   can't imagine Hawker would dream of imposing on, say, Greater London.
   Lindsay Hawker was not snatched off a busy midday street while no
   bystanders responded to her cries; that would be shameful. She went,
   alone, to the apartment of a man who'd already exhibited decidedly odd
   behavior:

     The suspect first approached Hawker near a train station March 21,
     saying he wanted to learn English, and followed her to her
     apartment, according to police. Hawker let him in because she had a
     roommate and he seemed eager to learn.
     The suspect drew a picture of Hawker and wrote down his name and
     phone number before leaving her apartment. Hawker agreed to give
     him an English lesson the following Sunday.

   Hawker is not to blame for her own death, and her killer (it's
   [2]looking as certain as it can be at this point that it was, indeed,
   Tatsuya Ichihashi) deserves the harshest punishment the law allows.
   But sometimes citizens exercise poor individual judgment, and it's no
   "shame" on society's part that it can't protect them from what may
   happen when they put isolate themselves from the police or honest
   citizens who might help them. Parents can, in general, feel good about
   their young adult children's coming to Japan to teach or study; most
   of the sorts of crime we worry about in Western cities--street crime
   and burglary--are rare. That doesn't change the fact that vigilance
   against nut cases is part of the price of moving unmonitored through
   life in a free society, even a society with a low murder rate such as
   Japan.

References

   1. http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070401p2a00m0na004000c.html
   2. http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070329p2a00m0na009000c.html