Compassion Shouldn’t Be Stupidity

I am no genius by any stretch. I am just a regular Joe who is trying to navigate through this crazy maze of life. So whatever I say, it is just a matter of my own point of view. Not trying to be smart.

One of the things that got me writing this piece is an editorial commentary by the ThisDay’s editor. Read on. In a nutshell, the editor was commending the prospects of an introduction of a Bill in the Parliament that, if enacted, would bring tougher laws against albino killers.

In a civilized world, all human beings should have the freedom to live without any fear of death simply because God, in His supreme wisdom, endowed some with different skin pigmentation. Furthermore, albinos are no different than the rest of us. Despite physical difficulties that some albinos may face (for instance, having difficulty in handling scorching sun rays), there is no scientific evidence that albinos are less human or less intelligent than the rest of us.

Given that albinos are a part of our social fabric, we are supposed to express genuine concern and compassion. Nonetheless, that does not give us a free ticket to overreact. Expression of our compassion towards albino shouldn’t be a permission to be irrational and stupid.

Let’s take the Bill that ThisDay’s editor referred to. The core of the Bill is to introduce tougher laws against albino killers. Uh?

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t killing just killing in the eyes of the Tanzania Law (barring different scenario and motives for committing the offense)? Isn’t the death penalty, which is permissible under the current Tanzania penal code, the ultimate penalty one can receive for killing another human being? So when an MP says that they are introducing a Bill that would pave a way for enactment of tougher laws against albino killers, what kind of penalties, for instance, would the MP propose? Killing the albino killers by torture?

I am not trying to be funny, because I’m not endorsing the killing of albinos. Nonetheless, I’m just trying to draw our attention to the fact that either Tanzanians are lazy in understanding the legal frame that is already in existence or we just like to overreact. The editor, in my opinion, could have done the Tanzanian society a great favor by challenging the merit of enacting unwarranted “tougher” laws.

The bottom line is this – albinos’ killing has more to do with ignorance than lack of tougher laws against the killers. We can’t solve social problems if we don’t know or deal with the root causes.
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Photo Credit: Michuzi