I’m very torn. On one hand, this model of forgiveness is truly saint-like. I remember having an intense conversation about Puyi (China’s last emperor, and subsequently a Japanese puppet ruler) and how the people ultimately forgave him. I might try to dig it up later.
On the other hand, the precious garden that is Earth is being deconstructed down to its component chemicals in order to make a handful of people extremely rich along the way. There is no word that can properly encapsulate the crime being perpetrated against all present and future life. Ecocide? Omnicide? It will make the horrors of the previous century into a mere prologue for what is to come. Everyone who is aiding and abetting this cosmic crime deserves the most savage punishments that the human mind can dream up, and it still wouldn’t atone for a fraction of the misery they’re working so diligently to create. And as much as I’d like to appeal to my own better nature, I simply can’t convince myself otherwise.
There is no word that can properly encapsulate the crime being perpetrated against all present and future life. Ecocide? Omnicide?
The priority isn’t getting justice for this; the priority is stopping it. Often (and I think this is why Mao’s sentiment is echoed in a bunch of other revolutionary writings) the quickest way to stop the harm is to give the perpetrators a way out. If you tell people you’ll kill them whether they fight or surrender, what are they going to pick?
