Watched 'The Imitation game' the other day. A really good watch, not exceptional but better than most biographies which focus solely on the melodrama and coming of age theme.
The movie had beautifully woven 3 phases of Turing's life which had a telling effect on him. To me the most endearing was the childhood, as it showed how he fell in love and how it ceased. Beautifully captured. His reticent nature felt a bit of a stretch as is the stereotype that nerds/scholars are condescending, but then seems like he truly was. The movie went through at a good pace, showing his genius and his failings. What left a lump was how he was treated by the law, after it came to light that he was a homosexual.
A man, who probably shortened the war by 2 years and saved over 18 million lives was chemically castrated for no fault of his. The authorities treated him for over a year to bring down his libido, in lieu of a prison sentence. If he did not do what he did, we would have had a completely different view of the world or the world itself would have been different. So a man's sexual preference took precedence over his act of saving Britain and the world. Say what you may, Britain owes him a big one. What's worse, her majesty granted Turing a posthumous royal pardon. wtf?
Who the heck are you to even give him a royal pardon, if anything you should be the one seeking pardon. The man saved your god forsaken, lame kingdom. You had no contribution to the war and no contribution whatsoever even after you became the queen. It just goes on to show, the world would go any distance to punish a social taboo over respecting someone for an act of humanity. The world may legalize same sex marriage, but the taboo will still remain. legalizing is not the solution, what is important is that recognizing it is as a natural phenomenon. Its not even a choice, it just happens. Because then, you wont have a reason to legalize it at all.
Peace Alan Turing. You inspired a generation, and it will remain indebted to your genius.
