The Wrong Man

by William Kilpatrick
May 13th, 2010

It’s a standard plot device in thrillers and spy movies: the police arrest or detain the wrong man—in fact, the only man who can stop the real murderer or foil the spies. Think of the Thirty Nine-Steps, one of Hitchcock’s first masterpieces. Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) has information that could prevent an international ring of spies from securing vital military secrets. Do the police believe him? No, instead they aggressively pursue him across England and Scotland for a murder he didn’t commit.

The same formula is a staple in science fiction and monster movies. The authorities—police, military or CIA—detain the one person who has the code or the formula or the knowledge that will destroy the monster or prevent the aliens from conquering the planet. And, invariably, the authorities are portrayed as obtuse, unimaginative types, who can’t seem to grasp the big picture.

What brings such movies to mind is the recently hatched high-brow plan to arrest the Pope. In April, Geoffrey Robertson, a high-ranking United Nations jurist, called on the British government to detain Pope Benedict XVI when he visits England in September. Robertson wants the UK to send the pope to the International Criminal Court to be tried for “crimes against humanity.” Robertson is backed up by celebrity atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. According to the London Times, Dawkins and Hitchens have commissioned Robertson and Mark Stephens, a solicitor, to draw up a justification for legal action.

Let’s see…Islamic religious leaders in the UK and around the world are spewing hatred at Christians and Jews, and are calling for the destruction of Israel, the murder of homosexuals, the imposition of Sharia law in Europe, and the defeat of “the Great Satan” (the U.S.). Oh, and they want the right to marry twelve-year-olds—maybe as many as four per man. But according to the twisted logic of the West’s self-appointed virtue police, it’s time to lock up the Pope. the rest image