The good, the bad and the ugly

Remember the old Clint Eastwood movie, The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly? As I remember it, the movie so relied on the judgement of the unnamed gunslinger played by Eastwood to figure out the good versus the bad and deal with the issue. No debates, no second guessing. Dead bodies on the bad guys side, innocents spared, all is good. 

Sort of reminds me of what would be today’s reality show. Would we call it, The Liars, The Thieves, & I Deny It?

The difference is not as clear as it used to be. The phrases caught “red-handed”, “dead to rights”, and “guilty as sin” seem to have been replaced with “plausible deniability”, “reasonable doubt”, and “the system is out to get me”.

And lots of less dead bodies to be sure. And the judgement of the old Eastwood character never gets questioned, only appreciated. That is a major difference.

Truly our current judicial system is much more refined than the Eastwood fictional version. Thankfully. But we seem to have lost the ability to define right versus wrong; legal versus illegal; and the ability to answer questions unambiguously. Is it yes or no? Instead, we seem to be parsing words – maintaining political correctness – and sometimes inventing more shades of gray.  

Were the questions of right and wrong all that different as represented in the old days? How could it have been? Would anyone today want the judgement of one person to hold sway over life and death?

Have we just made it more complicated to try eliminate being wrong (when we are), find a way towards rightness (when we are not)? Which leaves almost everyone a way out. And nothings settled; heads held high, and all are righteous. Girding for the next battle. Stakes higher and emotions at a much higher pitch. And again – nothing is settled.

The good thing – no dead bodies within the pitched battle. Now innocents are definitely hurt, but really when the two sides cease meaningful discussion nothing will change – all go on living and disagreeing. And nothing is settled. Always for now.