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eldots53 asked in Arts & HumanitiesHistory · 7 years ago

Thoughts on Alan Turing ' s pardon?

Alan Turing has now been granted a full and free posthumous pardon by the queen. This comes on the heels of a public apology in 2009. Any thoughts from the commentariat on this event?

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  • 7 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    As far as I know a Royal Pardon does not mean that no offence was committed / no law broken so no precedent is created with regard to others convicted of the same actions, unfortunately.

    If I was a cynical person I might think that this has more to do with the Conservative Party's campaign for the next General Election than a genuine concern for human rights.

    As I write this the Ugandan Government is planning to pass legislation to make homosexuality illegal . How sad is that?

  • 7 years ago

    Why should Alan Turing get a pardon? Either they have pardoned all people who were barbarically treated under anti-homosexuality laws, and can re-iterate that for Alan Turing, or they haven't, in which case this special treatment only highlights the problem that former convicted gay people are still regarded as criminals.

    There should be no situation in which the queen should have to give Alan Turing in particular a pardon.

  • CMV
    Lv 6
    7 years ago

    Trying to rewrite history is pointless in my view .

    And where do you stop with this ?

    At least 50,000 other men where convicted under the same laws and its an odds-on chance that several of them were equally valuable and worthy people who had done marvellous things in their lives - - - Why shouldn't THEY now also get pardons ?

    Are we going to Pardon everyone convicted of witchcraft ?

    Everyone transported for committing minor crimes ?

    Sir Thomas More , Anne Boleyn and Sir Walter Raleigh ?

  • 7 years ago

    Not sure why Turing should be singled out. there must be plenty of other men who were likewise convicted under the same law. Why is Turing a special case?

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  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    so should all those Imprisoned under those Draconian Laws he saved us and Got stabbed in the Back

    there was a Cpl who served in Korea with the RAF was told to leave the RAF or Go to Prison he left

    he served as well as any other person and a Victim who lost a Career

    today they serve with the same Honor but less Victimization

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    I guess a pardon means something to his family and to history, but it always pisses me off when governments commit atrocities, deny and ignore them for decades, then go "oops sorry about that" 50 years later like it absolves them. Meanwhile, their victims are dead. There's nothing else that can be done at this point I know.

  • Gerry
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    Why can't being "gay" be a crime?

  • 7 years ago

    In light of what is being rumored about what deviance is supposed to have gone on with members of the royal family, I think it would be a bit hypocritical not to...keep watching the press

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    Long overdue

  • 7 years ago

    What about all the others that were persecuted. Rhetorical.

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