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Shermer on Irving

By stcynic on February 22, 2006.

Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, has an op-ed piece in the LA Times about the imprisonment of David Irving that is well worth reading. He cites a famous passage from the Robert Bolt play, A Man for All Seasons:

Roper: So now you'd give the devil benefit of law.

More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the devil?

Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that.

More: Oh? And when the law was down - and the devil turned round on you - where would you hide? Yes, I'd give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

Quite right.

Tags
Liberty

I am surprised always, on how much is thought of T More, after I found out that he had a private jail in the basement of his house which he used to torture non-catholics.

By eric bloodaxe (not verified) on 22 Feb 2006 #permalink

Ah, but presumably he thought the Devil was a Catholic, too.

By Caledonian (not verified) on 23 Feb 2006 #permalink

The last line by More is actually a bit longer in the play, and is more powerful than the abbreviated version quoted above:

More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you - where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast - man's laws, not God's - and if you cut them down - and you're just the man to do it - d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

Either way, the point is well-made.