I don’t often use this column to rebut opinions expressed by Telegram readers, but the notions put forth by Herb Butt of Carbonear in his letter in last Saturday’s paper (“Only changes to the system will bring justice for Quinn”) were so outrageous that they cannot pass without rebuttal and condemnation.
His assertions were not only wrong, they are dangerous because they arise from and reinforce the widespread modern belief that the concepts of free will and personal responsibility are outmoded.
That said, and before I criticize his views further, it must be acknowledged that Butt’s personal pain and heartbreak must be of a degree most of us hope we never experience. His son murdered his granddaughter. Trent Butt, 40, was found guilty in March of killing his five-year-old daughter, Quinn, in 2016 and was sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 25 years. In a very real sense, Herb Butt lost a son as well as a granddaughter.
Trent Butt’s statement in court that he would never do anything to hurt his daughter was obnoxious beyond description, and probably had many people hoping he got the maximum sentence.
In his letter, Herb Butt says he believes his son in that regard.
It is one thing to love and support your children unconditionally — which automatically comes with good parenting — but Trent Butt’s assertion is obviously and demonstrably false, as the jury in the case rightly determined.
He would never hurt her, but he killed her. The denial of personal responsibility is astounding.
In court, Trent Butt cast blame on the legal system, apparently due to the antagonistic divorce proceedings and custody arguments with his ex-wife, Andrea Gosse.
This sentiment is echoed and supported by Herb Butt in his letter.
Trent Butt’s statement in court that he would never do anything to hurt his daughter was obnoxious beyond description, and probably had many people hoping he got the maximum sentence.
He wrote: “There has been a lot of negative attitudes towards my son, saying he did it out of revenge. My son’s suicide letter ‘Final Words’ focused on his love for Quinn, not revenge for her mother. There are members of the media and the general public who should not be too quick to judge, because research and forensic psychiatry paint a more complicated picture in which society may not just be a witness but an accomplice to these types of crimes.”
No, sir. Society did not contribute to the tragic death of your granddaughter. One thing, and one thing only, killed little Quinn: Trent Butt.
To say otherwise is to declare that Trent Butt did not have free will, that he did not have control over his own decisions, that he could not choose any other course of action.
Common view
Herb Butt’s disturbing interpretation of his family’s tragedy is, unfortunately, a common mode of thinking these days. The concepts of free will and individual mind are seemingly archaic.
Canadian social discourse hit a new low with the recent release of the report by the Commission of Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. Most of the outraged commentary focused on the report’s preposterous accusation that Canada is conducting “genocide” against Indigenous women and girls.
The report’s horrendously painful jargon is insufferable, but far worse is the pathetically predictable reasoning. Like Herb Butt in his letter, the MMIWG report resorts to excuses and casts blame other than where it should be cast.
According to the MMIWG report, violence against Indigenous women and girls is “rooted in colonialism” (page 11).
It claims “…violence against Indigenous women and girls is a crisis centuries in the making. The process of colonization has, in fact, created the conditions of the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women…” (page 19).
Apparently, Indigenous men do not have free will, independent minds or control over their own actions. Here is a fact the MMIWG commissioners don’t want to hear: it doesn’t matter how much racism, poverty, hardship, unemployment, isolation, lack of opportunity or education, etc. Indigenous men have had to face in this largely unjust world, there is no excuse for beating or killing their wife or girlfriend.
Brian Jones is a desk editor at The Telegram. He can be reached at [email protected].
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