I think people, like defense attorneys, who fight for the right of supposedly evil people are the real heroes of society. (You realize at the point they first meet them, they are just the accused, not the guilty yet. But whatever.) It is easy to love those who are good and kind-hearted. It is much harder to love those people despise. This is not an old concept. It is even found in the Sermon on the Mount. But has always been hard to live up to. In the case of defense attorneys, I am reminded of Clarence Darrow (1857 - 1958), the "attorney for the damned". He really did nothing more or less than any other attorney would or should do. He did represent controversial people like Leopold and Loeb in 1936. You realize all he really did was make sure they didn't face the death penalty. They still spend many decades behind bars. And he wasn't even that outstanding morally, at least by today's standards. He did have leanings towards the eugenics movement. Though he eventually came out against it. I am also reminded by what my mother used to say. When something is beautiful, kind, pleasant and agreeable to the senses, we always love it and protect it. But when something is ugly, but perhaps no less evil, like say a Tarantula (as opposed to a Wolf or Lion). We instinctively hate it and avoid it. Hating people who are evil, and things that are ugly and unpleasant, is I think the last human prejudice. I am not saying society doesn't need to be protected from evil people. But there is never any need to hate.
