Compassionate Progressives

While I'm still seething about the Southern Poverty Law Center, I want to thank Jeanne D'Arc for directing her traffic to my my recent update on the Winston Carter story. I appreciate the readers, of course, but more than that I appreciate Jeanne's moral clarity. Writing yesterday, on September 11, she said,

This day reminds us that evil is sometimes an enormous thing that it is impossible to turn away from.

But far more often it's hidden in places almost no one notices

And she linked to me and to a story that Dwight Meredith is covering:

There you have it. A mentally ill man was denied water for at least thirteen days because some jail employee was afraid that he might have to mop the floor. As a result, a human being almost died and suffered kidney damage that will require him to undergo thrice weekly dialysis. The decision to turn off the water was inhuman (indeed, we would be outraged if someone did that to a dog). The decision costs hundreds of thousands of dollars (one month in an intensive care unit, two more months in a hospital and a lifetime of dialysis). What is the reaction to that scandal?

The blogosphere is more concerned with the history of fonts and typewriters.

The media outside of Texas studiously ignore the story.

One media outlet in Texas thinks that the story is about whether the Dallas jail gets sued.

The repsonsible elected local official allows that if someone is going to make a big stink about one crazy prisoner, he will consider whether or not an investigation is warranted.

It is a sad story, and not just for James Monroe Mims and his family.

Thanks for your attention. You may now return to discussing the exact characteristics of an IBM Selectric circa 1970.

When no one notices it seems like no one cares. When no one appears to care it compounds the suffering of those who, while enduring loss and personal hardship, must also gather their energy to deal with bureaucracies that seem designed to defend evil with banality and passivity.