Malcolm Gladwell as punishment? Judge orders woman to read 'David and Goliath'
It may not be cruel, but how鈥檚 this for an unusual punishment: A Canadian arsonist was recently sentenced to serve five years in prison 鈥� and to read Malcolm Gladwell鈥檚 鈥淒avid and Goliath.鈥�
After going on the run for the better part of a decade, Rebecca Rubin, an animal and environmental rights activist, recently turned herself in to US authorities. Rubin confessed to participating in a number of arsons between 1996 and 2001 that caused an estimated $40 million in damages, including setting fire to a Colorado ski resort, a Northern California wild horse corral (after freeing the horses), and an Oregon lumber mill.
Portland, Oregon US district court judge Ann Aiken doled out the unique punishment: a five-year prison sentence, 200 hours of community service, payment towards more than $13 million in restitution, and instructions to read two books: Gladwell鈥檚 鈥淒avid and Goliath鈥� and Mary C. Wood鈥檚 鈥淣ature鈥檚 Trust.鈥�
Judge Aiken鈥檚 reasoning: Gladwell鈥檚 book about why underdogs succeed would teach Rubin 鈥渘on-violent means to protesting systems she perceives as unjust,鈥� Aiken said. And 鈥淣ature鈥檚 Trust鈥� purports to 鈥渆xpose the dysfunction of environmental law鈥� and 鈥渆mpower citizens to protect their inalienable property rights to crucial resources.鈥澛�
Interestingly, Rubin cited books as her inspiration. As the UK鈥檚 reported, 鈥淚n a letter to the judge, Rubin wrote that ever since she was a child, when her favorite books were Charlotte's Web and Beautiful Joe 鈥� "both of which center on mistreated non-human protagonists" 鈥� animals and the natural world "have always been for me a source of profound joy, wonder and solace, and their mistreatment and destruction a source of indescribable pain.鈥�
鈥淚 reached a point in my early twenties when I could longer contain or appropriately channel the grief, despair, and powerlessness I felt in response to the mistreatment of animals and the natural world," wrote Rubin. "Although at the time I believed my only motivation was my deep love for the earth, I now understand that impatience, anger, egotism and self-righteousness were also involved. In retrospect, I recognize how immature my actions were.鈥�
Of course, some in the online community couldn鈥檛 resist poking fun.
鈥淒espite a shorter sentence, Rebecca Rubin didn鈥檛 get off that 别补蝉测,鈥� joked. 鈥淭he judge also stipulated she read the latest book by bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell.鈥�
鈥淔or those wondering, some back of the envelope math tells me that Rubin would need to spend a little more than five hours a day for every day of her five-year sentence to master the art of reading Gladwell,鈥� quipped.
Gladwell jokes aside, we鈥檙e happy to see remedial reading make a comeback.
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.
