Monday, September 20, 2021

Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law.

From Antigone by Sophocles, translation by Jean Anouihl.  Antigone being grilled by Creon.  Emphasis added.

CREON. Polynices was a rebel and a traitor, and you know it. 

ANTIGONE. He was my brother. 

CREON. You heard my edict. It was proclaimed throughout Thebes. You read my edict. It was posted up on the city walls. 

ANTIGONE. Of course I did. 

CREON. You knew the punishment I decreed for any person who attempted to give him burial. 

ANTIGONE. Yes, I knew the punishment. 

CREON. Did you by any chance act on the assumption that a daughter of Oedipus, a daughter of Oedipus's stubborn pride, was above the law? 

ANTIGONE. No, I did not act on that assumption. 

CREON. Because if you had acted on that assumption, Antigone, you would have been deeply wrong. 

Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law. You are a daughter of lawmakers, a daughter of kings, Antigone. You must observe the law. 

Not to belabor the obvious point, but if our health leaders and political leaders want the nation to follow the laws they pass, they must first be seen to be following those laws themselves.  The more we see authoritarian politicians restricting movement, forcing masking, requiring vaccination, instructing on social distancing and then see those same people going out and about, not wearing masks, not getting vaccinated, and not maintaining social distance, the more we know this is a theatrical exercise and not legislation intended to accomplish a desired health outcome. 


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