Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Club for Open-Minded Discussion & Debate

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

Gandhi?

Gandhi is included in the poll in the OP.

[Thera reads]

Jesus was accused of being a criminal even though he was trying to save the world. I wish I could get full insight into this more.

[Good_Egg]

Obviously one common/almost universal base criterion will be that the criminal has broken a law which we consider to be wrong by doing something that we consider to be right.

Yes.

I nominate Solzhenitsyn.

[Lagayascienza]

l don't have strong feelings about most in that list. Martin Luther King Jr. seems to have been a brave and good man who struggled to improve the lives of others. I don't know a lot about Gandhi but I understand that he was a hero of Indian independence and preached non-violence. So they'd both get a vote from me.

My own favourites? I quite like Robin Hood. Although he might be more mythical than historical, but I like his purported motive - rob from the rich to give to the poor.

And the Australian bushranger, Ned Kelly. He had a unfortunate childhood. And I like his nonchalance. On climbing the gallows he purportedly said," Oh, well. Such is life. And life is such. And after all it isn't much."

In modern times, maybe the great train-robber, Ronald Biggs. I like that he didn't injure anyone during his crime (as far as I know). And it was interesting how he managed to get lost and avoid arrest for so long.

[Lagayascienza]

Oh, and I was ok with Jesus. I just don't like it that they made him into a god.

[Shirley Labzentis]

I don't consider Jesus a criminal. Even though he was crucified and died on the cross, doesn't make him a criminal. Why do you, Scott, think that he was a criminal?

[LuckyR]

I don't consider Jesus a criminal. Even though he was crucified and died on the cross, doesn't make him a criminal. Why do you, Scott, think that he was a criminal?

Uummm... because he was convicted of a cime?

[Nasir Shaikh]

I don't have an exact answer to this question because, after reading all the replies, I need to redefine the term "criminal." It's fascinating to see how everyone has their own definition, and all these definitions seem to complement each other. However, it's a challenging and eye-opening topic to discuss how the term "criminal" can automatically label a person as both good and bad.

[Xenophon]

Leon Degrelle, the real-life inspiration for Tin-Tin. The Belgians decided it was expedient to declare him a traitor when events played out like events played out.

[Eagle Adastra]

I don't fancy criminals. I do not have a favorite criminal. I love a clean individual. But, one can deduce lessons and motivations from the lives of criminals, their zeal and fearlessness.

[Lagayascienza]

Jesus was a criminal according to Roman law. And he was sentenced to crucifiction for his crime. Robin Hood, if he was a real person, was also labelled a criminal, as was Nelson Madella and numerous other people we would class by our standards today as good people. So, if we condem all criminals, we would be condeming a great number of awfully good folks. In many cases, the fault has not been with the person labelled a criminal, but with the law. And the laws that condem such good people are laws designed to protect wealth and prop up unjust power structures.

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

I don't consider Jesus a criminal. Even though he was crucified and died on the cross, doesn't make him a criminal. Why do you, Scott, think that he was a criminal?

Hi, Shirley Labzentis,

Jesus didn't slip on a banana peel and fall backwards into a cross.

He was executed by his government for breaking the law.

It's not a matter of opinion or 'consideration'. It's just a simple fact.

He broke the law in the jurisdiction in which he lived.

And he set a great example by doing so that helps pave the way for many other brave kind criminal law-breakers, such as Martin Luther King and such as the German woman who helped hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis and many other criminal Germans who chose to break the Nazi's laws.

Another example would be the criminal abolitionist who set up the very illegal Underground Railroad in the USA which illegally helped slaves illegally escape slavery.

Being a criminal is a good thing and takes great bravery and love.

Look throughout all of history and there are no heroic law-abiders because all governments have disgusting laws and all governments throughout all of history have routinely committed legal non-defensive violence and legal atrocities. Only a coward or sadistic monster can follow all the laws in such a place.

For more on that subject, I invite you to also read and reply in the following forum topic of mine:

Friends, I ask you to oppose ALL non-consensual non-defensive violence, even when it's legal or done by your government.


With love,
Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
a.k.a. Scott

martin-luther-king-jr-greatest-purveyor-of-violence-in-the-world.jpg (266.76 KiB) Viewed 394 times

[Sculptor1]

Nelson Mandela anyone?

[Samana Johann]

The Saint Angulimala, former notorious murder.

[Xenophon]

Actually I almost forgot. FDR and his catamite call-boy Churchill. They parlayed a resoluable border crisis (Germany and Poland) into a crusade for the JWO.