https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/politics/democrats-call-on-northam-to-resign/index.html Sorry about the title... my computer wigged out and posted it before I was ready. I meant it to read "Not Made for Humans." Here's my point. The Democratic VA governor is getting crucified in the press for a picture from 35 years ago. It is a yearbook photo in which he is evidently dressed in mocking blackface or in a KKK outfit, both of which are disgusting. Is his participation in the photo wrong? Of course. Any sensible person can see that participating in a photo in either respect is morally wrong. Blackface is degrading to the nobility and humanity of one's fellow human beings while representing the KKK is representing a group that was bent on destroying a group of people for the color of their skin. That's disgusting. It is small-minded and weak. However, can we take a step back for a second? Why is the man being asked to step down for something he did 35 years ago that wasn't murder, rape, etc.? He participated in a distasteful photo. By all accounts, this is not something he would do now or any time in the recent past. I don't know much about Northam so if there are other accounts of similar behavior continuing to present, then yes, get him to resign. However, the VA Senate Dems evidently released a statement which basically said 'he's a great guy now but this was such an awful thing that he needs to pay for it.' Really? Is that America? Do we live in a country where we cannot grow? Do we live in a country where we must be punished to such an extreme for mistakes made 35 years ago that did not directly affect the immediate well-being of another person? Let me be perfectly clear... and this is a line that I'm still reflecting on. Suppose evidence arose that Northam took this nonsense much further and participated in burning a cross on someone's lawn. Suppose he was part of a group of white guys that beat up a black person. Yes, that type of behavior is such that the revelation of it now 35 years later would still warrant his removal from office. But a photo? That seems extreme. I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. I mostly eschew labels because I want to make my own decisions about various issues. Was this a lapse in judgment? Yes, without a doubt. But should the man pay for said lapse in judgment or such immaturity (given that there are probably other events when he was that age) for the rest of his days? Here's my fundamental question and concern with this issue. How long and how much must a person pay for something that was in poor taste / offensive / wrongthink but did not actually impair another person's rights in any substantive manner? Or are we now a society that expects people to come from the womb as fully developed, completely responsible people that never need to grow, develop, change, repent, etc.? Have we no room for mistakes?
