- Mar 7, 2014
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There was issue with Chelsea Manning being invited to speak at Harvard.
The issue was that Chelsea Manning is guilty of treason and therefore should be ostracized from things like this.
treason | Definition of treason in US English by Oxford Dictionaries
The definition of treason according to Oxford is
"The crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government."
Well, Manning didn't try and overthrow the government or kill the sovereign, or President. But did Manning betray the country?
Well, there are plenty of arguments where you could say yes and no depending on your point of view.
However when I saw this, my immediate reaction was the Confederacy. Seeing as there has been plenty to talk about concerning those who believe they can support the Confederacy, have the flags and the like.
The Confederacy was quite clearly guilty of treason. They betrayed their own country. Again, there are different views on this, that it was good and bad.
But those people in the modern times who support the confederacy, the flag, the statues, what are they standing for and is this treason? Is this treason more or less than what Manning did?
Another point to make is that say a President, like Bush, takes a country to war, but not for the interests of the country, but for the interests of big business, friends, business associates and the like? Is this not treason? Does this not betray one's country by using its military for personal use? Getting citizens killed for personal profit? (personal not necessarily meaning for the President, but for those around him, friends etc too).
The issue was that Chelsea Manning is guilty of treason and therefore should be ostracized from things like this.
treason | Definition of treason in US English by Oxford Dictionaries
The definition of treason according to Oxford is
"The crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government."
Well, Manning didn't try and overthrow the government or kill the sovereign, or President. But did Manning betray the country?
Well, there are plenty of arguments where you could say yes and no depending on your point of view.
However when I saw this, my immediate reaction was the Confederacy. Seeing as there has been plenty to talk about concerning those who believe they can support the Confederacy, have the flags and the like.
The Confederacy was quite clearly guilty of treason. They betrayed their own country. Again, there are different views on this, that it was good and bad.
But those people in the modern times who support the confederacy, the flag, the statues, what are they standing for and is this treason? Is this treason more or less than what Manning did?
Another point to make is that say a President, like Bush, takes a country to war, but not for the interests of the country, but for the interests of big business, friends, business associates and the like? Is this not treason? Does this not betray one's country by using its military for personal use? Getting citizens killed for personal profit? (personal not necessarily meaning for the President, but for those around him, friends etc too).
