The Parable of the Unjust West Virginian

Question Eight: Regarding your statement ”it is wrong to punish the innocent.”–

“Wrong” in this case is shorthand for “not useful if you want a working civilization.” Governments that rise above a certain level of innocent-punishment fail. Or at least, I think they do. I would have to have data to be sure about that.

Suppose I am an officer stationed in West Virginia on the eve of the Civil War. Suppose I know beyond any reasonable doubt that the West Virginian counties are going to break away from the Virginian government, so that I know the government will fail no matter what I do or fail to do.

I see a Jewish peddler on the road, a man I know has neither friends nor family nor anyone to avenge any wrong done him. Swaggering up to him, I accuse him falsely of trespassing, and demand a fine, namely, any spare cash or other valuables he has on his person. He argues the point with me, so I beat him with a club as a punishment for resisting my authority. I then take a banknote worth fifty dollar I find hidden in his boot toe.

As an additional punishment for being a member of  a despised race whom I blame for killing Christ, I kick him savagely in the stomach and groin before departing to the nearest tavern to spend part of my new found wealth.

Now, according to your formulation, it is an open question, an unknown, perhaps even a matter beyond human comprehension, whether or not I have wronged this man, because no one can know before it happens or not whether my act increased or decreased the tendency of the government to fail. (And in this hypothetical, the government will fail in any case, due to the coming Civil War, which will break the West Virginian counties away from the Virginian government.)  

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Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.