Mike Tyson, Marijuana Morsels, and Justice vs Forgiveness
Hello from Milan, where today the whole country is celebrating “Liberation Day,” the anniversary of the Italian resistance movement’s victory over the Nazis and the Italian fascists.
The partisan rallying cry in 1945 was “Surrender or die!” And indeed, three days after that fateful liberation day, Mussolini was shot and killed. There was no plan for Fascist forgiveness—only justice.
In cases of extreme depravity and violence, the case for this kind of visceral and Hammurabian justice is easier. But what about more minor forms of violence? What do we do with smaller or more complicated wrongs? How do we decide when to demand justice, or when to offer forgiveness? And which cases can apologies help us with?
Those topics are too big to tackle in one short essay, but you can get a little taste of them all in this week’s column about Mike Tyson’s new odd job (weed dealer). You can read it here: