Between the crime of illness and the crime of evil: Kini o npa o lekun?

Reading Gladwell’s “What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures” about ten years ago. I stumbled on these two terms, “crime of evil and crime of illness,” at the heart of a legal case on intellectual rights and “theft” between two people; a psychiatrist named Dorothy Lewis  and

British playwright Bryony Lavery.” In the section titled  Something Borrow: Should the charge of Plagiarism ruin your life? The author explores the slippery terrain is intellectual property and copyright. Lewis, who had studied more serial killers than most psychiatrists w had written, “The difference between a crime of evil and a crime of illness is the difference between a sin and a symptom.” These lines were in Frozen, a broadway play by Lavery— not once but twice.”  

As a conversation started in a class I taught on terrorism years ago, I adapted and amended this to interrogate/ prompt the discussion on the causes of terrorism or why people are violent. I wanted to know if violent pathology was stirred by illness (genetically wired) or if it was plain evil. It was an exciting section of the class as some people argued that terrorism and inflicting pain was a straightforward crime of evil; others said we should consider if genetics predisposes some people to cause harm( This group seems to echo Lewis and Pincus). Another group argued that when we claim that violence is a crime of illness, then it frees people from taking responsibility for their actions because we turn to see them as helpless victims of a disease. The third group of students said something aligned with what I believe but did not publicly acknowledge.

 I have learned that as a teacher, especially in the classroom, it is “unhealthy” to let your student know where you stand for multiple reasons, which I can’t distill but fundamentally for power difference. Students are likely to acquiesce to what the teacher thinks, which can stifle learning, thinking, and growth. Students should be allowed to arrive at their conclusion on their own. Professor Saheed Aderinto (PSA) demonstrated this after his colloquial in 2021 when a beloved sister and  I started this intellectual discussion. If you know this woman, she was her arsenal of historical and contemporary evidence that she could use to floor Femi Falana in a court of law. We were not trying to win this conversation; everyone was trying to lay information down for their claim. PSA sat in the corner, nodding his head and assenting to each view. After long and painful silence that precedes the wisdom that flows from his lips, he said, both of you are right.

I could not acknowledge before my student was that both crimes of evil/illness thrive because system and structure support, enable, and acquiesce to both. If there are no dire consequences for stupidity, either inspired by diseases, evil, religion, or whatever, terror will thrive. Even a mad person knows not to go hear fire! We have been fighting terror in this country because it is business for many people. Remember all the “gates” we have had. I knew the capacity for terror has limitations on the day; someone I love took on this community bully. Whom was so cantankerous people dreaded him?

 I can’t count how many times my sister-mum, siblings, family, friends, and relatives would say certain things would never happen if mum was alive. That woman was the Queen of consequences. She will give it to you where you will remember to tell your generation. Somehow she has the insight into where it will “hurt” you the most. She knows the one to whop and sit in hours of counseling that spread over days and months. The one to deny wearing their best clothes or new clothes because she knows they hate repeating clothes to church. My mother was one to deal with you in a way that would tear you up. Yet, she would ask, “kini o pa o lekun? We knew where the bucks stopped even after my dad passed because mum will ask you “talo gunyan fun o toni to be o soro” ( ask your Yoruba friends what this means). You see, I have said this before, you can’t rebuke the demon you sleep with.

 Posted on Facebook on July 7, 2022.

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