[OT]Royal pardon for codebreaker Turing

[Mark Lawrence]

Maybe of interest to some of you
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25495315

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

Maybe of interest to some of you
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25495315

While I'm happy for Alan Turing, may he rest in peace, I think the
thousands of other homosexuals who have been prosecuted for something
which shouldn't be a crime in the first place might be a bit peeved that
he is singled out for a pardon.

Personally, I think that people ought to throw a party celebrating
Turing's rehabilitation, and do it right outside the Russian Embassy.

 

[Tim Johnson]

While I'm happy for Alan Turing, may he rest in peace, I think the
thousands of other homosexuals who have been prosecuted for something
which shouldn't be a crime in the first place might be a bit peeved that
he is singled out for a pardon.

The LGBTs that I know are happy to hear about it...

Personally, I think that people ought to throw a party celebrating
Turing's rehabilitation, and do it right outside the Russian Embassy.

Yeah!

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

The LGBTs that I know are happy to hear about it...

How many of them have been prosecuted themselves? If they have been, did
they get pardoned as well?

In case it wasn't obvious, I'm not objecting to Turing being pardoned. I'm
suggesting that there are probably thousands of people whose lives were
equally ruined, and they haven't been pardoned. I'm sure that Turing wasn't
the only person who was forced into taking hormone "therapy", he probably
wasn't the only person driven to suicide, and I know that he wasn't the
only one who lost his job and career because of the hateful laws.

Turing's prosecution was an especially spiteful example, given his role in
the war effort, but many others suffered equally. Some may even be alive
today. Where is their royal pardon?

 

[Tim Johnson]

How many of them have been prosecuted themselves? If they have been, did
they get pardoned as well?

In case it wasn't obvious, I'm not objecting to Turing being pardoned. I'm
suggesting that there are probably thousands of people whose lives were
equally ruined, and they haven't been pardoned. I'm sure that Turing wasn't
the only person who was forced into taking hormone "therapy", he probably
wasn't the only person driven to suicide, and I know that he wasn't the
only one who lost his job and career because of the hateful laws.

Turing's prosecution was an especially spiteful example, given his role in
the war effort, but many others suffered equally. Some may even be alive
today. Where is their royal pardon?

I'm not sure if you have a cause or if you want an argument.
You'll get none from me. I - like many others, and perhaps you as
well - carry the scars of man's inhumanity to man. Justice for
that has its venue and it isn't on this ML.

Go find your cause and its venue. I'm done with this.

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

I'm not sure if you have a cause or if you want an argument.

I thought we were having a conversation.

Not every exchange of messages on the internet is best understood as a
dispute between opposing views. Apologies if you thought I was arguing with
you. I thought I was just clarifying my position to avoid
misunderstandings. How ironic that I apparently was doing the opposite

 

[Roy Smith]

I thought we were having a conversation.

Not every exchange of messages on the internet is best understood as a
dispute between opposing views.

Is too!

 

[Chris Angelico]

Is too!

I didn't come here for a parameter!

ChrisA

 

[Mark Lawrence]

While I'm happy for Alan Turing, may he rest in peace, I think the
thousands of other homosexuals who have been prosecuted for something
which shouldn't be a crime in the first place might be a bit peeved that
he is singled out for a pardon.

Personally, I think that people ought to throw a party celebrating
Turing's rehabilitation, and do it right outside the Russian Embassy.

Any particular reason for the restriction to Russian Embassy?

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

I suspect it's in reference to the difficulties homosexuals are likely
to face when attending or competing in the 2014 Winter Olympic and
Paralympic Games at Sochi.

I don't care about the Olympians. Their presence in Russia is voluntary,
and so long as they keep it in their pants for a few weeks (or at least
don't get caught) they get to go home again a few weeks later. Have a
thought for those who don't get to go home again. I'm talking about the
situation in Russia, where the government is engaging in 1930s-style
scape-goating and oppression of homosexuals. They haven't quite reached
the level of Kristallnacht or concentration camps, but the rhetoric and
laws coming out of the Kremlin are just like that coming out of the
Reichstag in the thirties.