The New York Times reports today that soldiers of the United States kicked two Aghani prisoners on their legs and groin for several days, until they died. In another section, it reports that two New York police detectives are accused of carrying out eight hits for the Mafia. Uniforms and badges make that kind of thing easier.
In Vienna, there is special crime on the books, Kappenbeamtenbeleidigung, "insulting an official who wears a cap." The idea is that people in uniforms deserve some special respect. The Catholics have long claimed this sort of dignity for their priests and nuns. They live dedicated lives.
There's a story about Mircea Eliade and a priest. Eliade insisted upon addressing him as "Father." The priest preferred a more informal mode of address. Eliade noted in his journal: his being a priest was the interesting thing about him.
I am not sure a society can function without uniforms meaning something: where in common understanding the judge is just a thug in a robe, and the policeman is just a thug with a gun, and the soldier is just a thug with a big gun, and the priest is a lurking menace.
Systems of authority run on trust, and the debasement of one such system prefigures the debasement of the others.
Jesus says, "If salt loses its savor, with what shall it be salted?"
Posted by shea0017 at March 12, 2005 12:42 PM