It’s not often I find myself agreeing with Michael Laws. But in this case I give some qualified assent to what he writes, namely about the media’s descent into sleaze.  But whatever the rights and wrongs of the behavior he describes, he does not take into account any possibility of redemption on the part of one of the parties, namely the woman. I was reminded of Mary Magdalene, and of the woman of bad reputation who anointed the feet of Jesus with ointment from her alabaster jar.

An account of alleged past questionable behavior on the part of a former rugby great and the women described by Laws as “slappers” is certainly distasteful, and it does TVNZ and the NZ Herald no credit to dredge up and dwell upon all the nasty details.  He is quite right; this is gutter journalism that does not serve the public interest, and is destructive of people’s dignity and any efforts they make to rebuild their lives.

Laws asks, why should Brooke be branded and condemned for past transgressions of a morally reprehensible, albeit not criminal nature?  Agreed.  Why, after all these years, does an anonymous woman decide to go to the media with her story?  Who knows!

But getting back to Michael Laws. What he fails to understand is the difference between what he calls “slapper’s remorse” and the possibility of redemption and forgiveness.  He wrote tellingly in condemnation of media grubbiness and its humiliation of Robin Brooke, but whatever this woman’s past and whatever her motives she does not deserve to be gratuitously humiliated and degraded by Michael Laws. Justice is a two-way street.

All of this reminds me of the words of Jesus when speaking about condemning the sin, not the sinner, and of his forgiveness and compassion to the woman with the alabaster jar, and to the woman about to be stoned to death when caught in the act of adultery, with his challenge that only the one without sin might cast the first stone.

1 Comment

@spiritedcrone
Jul 12, 2010 18:07