When I was in my first year of law school, one of my acquaintances was a conservative Republican guy. Let's call him Stephen. He was very bright, but he had lots of problems, including an addiction (for which he was receiving treatment) and depression. I can't say I liked him at all. Apart from his loathesome political views, Stephen was whiny and spoiled, and had a tendency to screw over our classmates in some ways, large and small. He even smelled bad, I kid you not. But he was very smart, and he was in my first-year study group, where he did good work.
Part of the first year is the write-on competition for law journals. In the competition, you are presented with an actual case which has been accepted for consideration by the Supreme Court, along with copies of relevant precedent. Your task is to pick a side and argue it in a brief. The competition came at the end of the school year, and people had to really bear down to do a good job. But Stephen was in even worse shape. His depression and other issues were keeping him from even starting. I suffer from depression myself, and I felt for the guy. The week of the competition, I would call him every hour: "Stephen, have you started the brief yet? Have you read the cases? Why don't you just start writing and see what happens?" It felt like I physically lifted him into the chair in front of the computer and put his fingers on the keys. In the end, he did it, and we both were accepted to the main journal. He thanked me for pushing him to write the brief.
Happy ending, right? Here's the thing. Stephen the right-wing law student went on to become Stephen the right-wing lawyer. As a result in part of being on journal, he got a desireable clerkship, which then led to a very good job. From there, he has worked on several cases for conservative organizations, advancing their agenda. And now he's becoming something in conservative Republican politics, much to my horror.
Back in law school, I believed that helping another person, no matter how despicable his beliefs, was a good thing. You never know how an act of kindness might change someone. Now, I am not so sure. I think the world would have been better off if I had left Stephen to dwell on his depression, or even affirmatively hindered him from getting on journal. Contemptible people might deserve kindness, but they definitely don't deserve anything that aids them in furthering their ideas.
Yeah, I met a lot of douchebags in law school as well. Was that the point of the story?
Posted by: Norbizness | December 22, 2003 at 10:08 PM
Gotta look out for us loathsome conservatives. ;)
Posted by: Sebastian Holsclaw | December 23, 2003 at 03:55 AM
Trying to decide whether people deserve your help or not before offering it is a sure path to right-wing hell. Humanism is the foundation of liberal ideology.
The answer lies in helping more people, not fewer - no matter how they're going to turn out.
Posted by: mdchick | December 23, 2003 at 09:17 AM
I must disagree.
Deciding whether or not to help people based on their political convictions ( or what they might do years down the road with them) is not really a feasible option. First, you cannot see far enough down the road and some ppl evolve in surprising ways. Secondly, it will make you appear, in the eyes of the less political mainstream, to be a nut to be avoided.
If it makes you feel any better, I help a lot of students. One a very bright girl who I steered through history undergrad changed into a very PC, little campus tyrant in grad school which was sad to see and as a result communication between us dwindled. The phase passed and while she remains on the left her focus in Law school is more on the positives that she can accomplish than who she can punish. People change and this Steve character might mellow out.
Posted by: mark safranski | December 23, 2003 at 12:56 PM