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The Man Who Made the UK Say “I’m Sorry for What We Did to Turing.”

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Re: The Man Who Made the UK Say “I’m Sorry for What We Did to Turing.”

#31

Post by barking »

vixen99 wrote: post #25

"I'm sorry for what we did to Turing". On the other hand, if you don't happen to be a genius, tough! The countless, ordinary blokes in the street who happened to be homosexuals and were prosecuted in the 1950s and earlier can go hang as with the millions of others who with hindsight suffered unfairly at the hands of various laws of the land in past centuries. However it seems to me that for people alive today to apol…

Of course it is and it assumes that we are also superior to those that came before us and had different morals.

Re: The Man Who Made the UK Say “I’m Sorry for What We Did to Turing.”

#32

Post by lifeisstillgood »

This is a great post putting some human interest onto a story about how slowly Britain is coming to terms with it's place in the world. I am glad jgrahmnc put his effort into this and that so many supported him.

But really the responses here are appalling - this was a small victory in a war for a better world - and unless we take our victories and celebrate them the defeats will cripple us.

Well done jgrahmnc, well done even Gordon Brown (this being I think the only thing he did right as premier) - now we have all got work to do to make a better world. And we can't afford to keep killing off the geniuses.

Re: The Man Who Made the UK Say “I’m Sorry for What We Did to Turing.”

#33

Post by DanBC »

barking wrote: post #28
rmc wrote: post #18

(Disclaimer: I'm an openly gay man working in technology). A part of me dislikes how Alan Turing was given a pardon and apology. It's like they said it was wrong to persecute a gay man for being gay, but only if you help invent the computer and help defeat the Nazis. What about all the other gay men persecuted under the same law? Why do they not get a pardon/apology? Do we have to help stop evil genocidal dictators b…

[dead]

It's a reasonable question to ask about the other gay men who were imprisoned or chemically castrated or otherwise persecuted but who are ignored by the various apologies and pardons.

Re: The Man Who Made the UK Say “I’m Sorry for What We Did to Turing.”

#34

Post by chimeracoder »

TheRealStory wrote: post #24

Strange precedent set here. So the government now has to apologies to people ever prosecuted or treated unfairly under laws which no longer exist? So when marijuana becomes legal somewhere, the government has to pardon and apologies to all those who were arrested previously? How about those prosecuted for dealing in prescription drugs after those become OTC? What about those who weren't allowed to vote at some point…

> Gay activists are starting to sound like blacks in America. Always taking the victim role...

As a gay, nonwhite man, I can't write any more in response to your statement in a rational and unemotional way befitting of Hacker News, aside from the following two points.

> So when marijuana becomes legal somewhere, the government has to pardon and apologies to all those who were arrested previously?

Not that I'm holding my breath, but if that happened, yes, I would be thrilled. Marijuana prohibition is unjust and its racially-biased enforcement is morally reprehensible.

> Those laws that prosecuted Turing were maintained by an elected leadership. The people spoke with their votes and chose those laws. If Turing wanted to live in a society where the people didn't want him, how is that the fault of the existing Government?

Support for interracial marriage did not hold majority support in the US until about three decades after it was made legal. This is known as the tyranny of the majority - majority rule can very easily oppress minority groups. And no, the fact that the majority are comfortable with this oppression does not make it right.

Re: The Man Who Made the UK Say “I’m Sorry for What We Did to Turing.”

#35

Post by barking »

DanBC wrote: post #33
barking wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[dead]

It's a reasonable question to ask about the other gay men who were imprisoned or chemically castrated or otherwise persecuted but who are ignored by the various apologies and pardons.

[flagged]

Re: The Man Who Made the UK Say “I’m Sorry for What We Did to Turing.”

#37

Post by baudehlo »

rmc wrote: post #18

(Disclaimer: I'm an openly gay man working in technology). A part of me dislikes how Alan Turing was given a pardon and apology. It's like they said it was wrong to persecute a gay man for being gay, but only if you help invent the computer and help defeat the Nazis. What about all the other gay men persecuted under the same law? Why do they not get a pardon/apology? Do we have to help stop evil genocidal dictators b…

This is the reason JGC doesn't support the idea of a pardon for just Turing. If a pardon is to happen, it has to be applied to all gays persecuted during that time period.

Re: The Man Who Made the UK Say “I’m Sorry for What We Did to Turing.”

#38

Post by DanBC »

barking wrote: post #35
DanBC wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a reasonable question to ask about the other gay men who were imprisoned or chemically castrated or otherwise persecuted but who are ignored by the various apologies and pardons.

[flagged]

[flagged]

Re: The Man Who Made the UK Say “I’m Sorry for What We Did to Turing.”

#40

Post by amouat »

baudehlo wrote: post #37
rmc wrote: post #18

(Disclaimer: I'm an openly gay man working in technology). A part of me dislikes how Alan Turing was given a pardon and apology. It's like they said it was wrong to persecute a gay man for being gay, but only if you help invent the computer and help defeat the Nazis. What about all the other gay men persecuted under the same law? Why do they not get a pardon/apology? Do we have to help stop evil genocidal dictators b…

This is the reason JGC doesn't support the idea of a pardon for just Turing. If a pardon is to happen, it has to be applied to all gays persecuted during that time period.

I agree, but Turing was pardoned and it was not universally applied: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25495315
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