Jeremiad

Normblog has a short post in which its author tries to provide some explanation to the question "why African leaders aren't confronting Sudan's president, Omar Al Bashir."

The short answer: "this tendency of political interest to prevail over concern for the rule of law that is at the heart of the weakness of international law"

This hierarchy of priorities, the putting of political interest above the need for justice, reminded me directly of the way Paul Ricoeur tried to define evil:

“Evil is, in the literal sense of the word, perversion, that is, a reversal of the order that requires respect for law to be placed above inclination. It is a matter of a misuse of a free choice... The propensity for evil affects the use of freedom, the capacity to act out of duty – in short, the capacity for being autonomous.”

So what else is new?

Jeremiah asked the same question:

צדיק אתה יהוה כי אריב אליך
אך משפטים אדבר אותך
מדוע דרך רשעים צלחה
שלו כל בגדי בגד

You are too righteous, God, for me to quarrel with You
but I will ask you a few questions.
Why are the wicked so successful,
and tranquility is the lot of the treacherous villains?