The dangers of labeling, Part 1.

Why is everyone all of the sudden "innocent"?

There are the "innocent" victims of 9/11. Terry Schiavo is "innocent". The targets of the D.C. area sniper were "innocent".

Last I checked, none of those people had been charged with a crime. Who's concerned that these people might be guilty? That's not even a question in these incidents. So why the use of the word "innocent"?

Use of the word "innocent" instantly absolves someone of any wrongdoing. If someone is innocent it can mean one of two things: this person has never done anything wrong (only certain, young children can make this claim), and this person has been accused of doing something wrong but has been absolved of guilt. So, is Terry Schiavo innocent? She is not innocent by either definition; she has neither led a perfect life nor has she been accused of committing a crime.

Labeling a person as being innocent endears that person to the public. Innocence conjures up images of children, the "innocence of youth" (i.e. better times, familiar faces, places, and smells), blonde-haired, and blue-eyed, little girls in sun dresses bounding through open meadows of daisies while giggling. There is a longing for innocence: freedom from worrying about the mortgage, freedom from fears over losing a job, freedom from the heartache the comes from broken relationships, and a return to the carefree days of yester-year.

Here is what I imagine is what "innocence" labelers want you to think, "They haven't done anything wrong. Why should they be punished?" This brings me to my next point: the building of the case against whoever is on the other side of the "innocent" victim.

There is now a conundrum. Someone has now been identified as being innocent. Wait! What's the crime? Ah. So now we have questions. People will subconsciously start asking the following questions. "If they are innocent, who's guilty? What's the crime?" Now we have a problem. If people start asking those two questions and they aren't given answers, the whole case for someone's innocence falls apart. This is where our "innocence" labelers get crafty. They have to label someone else as "guilty".