The Law Does Not Flatter the Noble

answered by Han Feizi, Having Regulations

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🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Paths of Glory (1957)

dir. Stanley Kubrick · USA

When a few below are sacrificed as an example to cover a failure above, what can one who knows the injustice do? Within a process that cannot be won, is defending the wronged a futile effort, or the only way to keep the place of the human?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Do I close my eyes to the fault of the powerful, yet hold the straight measure only to the weak?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

法不阿貴

法不阿貴繩不撓曲

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

The law does not flatter the noble; the measuring-line does not bend to the crooked.

💡 TL;DR

Han Feizi placed the life of law in impartiality.

📝The Classic Answers

Han Feizi placed the life of law in impartiality. As a measuring-line that bends to crooked wood is no longer a line, a law that flatters the noble is no longer law. When a failure above is covered by making an example of those below, what collapses is not one life alone but the straightness of the measure itself. To defend the wronged though it cannot be won is the last gesture to keep that straight line. I choose first to watch whether the measure bends according to the person.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

Check your own measure once today: are you weighing the same fault differently depending on the person?

📖 Classic Source: Han Feizi, Having Regulations. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.