Alan Turing Pardoned

[anteros_lmc]

Woke up this morning to the wonderful news that Alan Turing has finally been granted a long over due royal pardon under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. Truly it is the season of goodwill. While it's shameful that it's taken this long, I can't help feeling genuinely moved by this news, especially at a time when state sanctioned persecution of gay people seems to be increasing at a truly frightening rate. Now, what's the chances of a general pardon?

The letter below the cut was written by Turing to the mathematician Norman Routledge in 1952, just prior to pleading guilty to the charge of gross indecency, and it speaks volumes about the distress the prosecution caused him.

My dear Norman,

I don't think I really do know much about jobs, except the one I had during the war, and that certainly did not involve any travelling. I think they do take on conscripts. It certainly involved a good deal of hard thinking, but whether you'd be interested I don't know. Philip Hall was in the same racket and on the whole, I should say, he didn't care for it. However I am not at present in a state in which I am able to concentrate well, for reasons explained in the next paragraph.

I've now got myself into the kind of trouble that I have always considered to be quite a possibility for me, though I have usually rated it at about 10:1 against. I shall shortly be pleading guilty to a charge of sexual offences with a young man. The story of how it all came to be found out is a long and fascinating one, which I shall have to make into a short story one day, but haven't the time to tell you now. No doubt I shall emerge from it all a different man, but quite who I've not found out.

Glad you enjoyed broadcast. Jefferson certainly was rather disappointing though. I'm afraid that the following syllogism may be used by some in the future.

Turing believes machines think
Turing lies with men
Therefore machines do not think

Yours in distress,
Alan

Comments

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Turing believes machines thinkTuring lies with menTherefore machines do not think

I've always found that so chilling.

My boy. I'll raise a glass to him later...

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Found out late last night. Daughter was happening through. I said 'Have you ever heard of Alan Turing?' Face wrinkle, she shook her head.

I have a ten sentence explaination. Her reaction:

"This was what-- like 1950?" (Picture teen girl uptalk.)
"They did this because he was GAY?-- That's F-ed up."

She left the room. Firm grasp of the situation there.

And I thought, of course, of that picture of the little guy in the sailor suit. Who could look at that child and do a hateful thing to him?

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

And look at your pic and my icon. He hasn't changed!

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Is it me or does "pardoned" sound like he did something wrong but they are magnanimous enough to let it go after all this time? You pardon a criminal; can you pardon an innocent person?

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Hopefully they'll eventually so the same for all the rest.

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

I was at Bletchley earlier this year and some sixth formers werr looking at the Turing timeline which is one triuimph after another in remarkable succession until the last two entries which baldly state his conviction and death.
They were collectively staggered and were all making commenst very much to the tune of -he did all that and they were bothered who he had sex with ?
in many senses I found their astonishment, whilst perhaps pointing to lack of historical awareness, nevertheless encouraging in its pointing to some sections of society where things have changed.
Thanks for posting _ I guessed someone hopefully would