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Secrets and Lies—Good and Evil
Outward ceremonies will not compensate for the want of virtue. The impulses of love are so subtle, and the influences of false reasoning, when enforced by eloquence and passion, so unbounded, that no human virtue is secure from degeneracy. Heroes and villains are largely defined by their treatment of others. Ben Crawford is considered a hero because he is kind to everyone he comes into contact with, and he is also sensitive. Ben Crawford likes to pursue more happiness-seeking activates and experience good emotions, and we see this in him before the murder of Tom Murphy. After the murder of his son, Tom Murphy, Ben Crawford experiences a roller coaster of good and unpleasant emotional states, but he does not let this compel him to the dark side. While everyone is mistreating Ben, playing him for a fool, trying to trap him into a relationship, or sponging off of him, he remains emotionally stable and is still able to experience some happiness and satisfaction in life. We see that Ben is still happy when he takes his daughter and Jess Murphy to the county fare. When examining Secrets and Lies, it is easy to think of suspense as intense entertainment or something the audience is interested solely as a form of escaping from reality, for a while. However, by engaging in this program, the audience is using this World to learn to critically think and form conclusions about their own existence, relationships, and figure out what really matters to them.
People are able to explore their humanity, spirituality, and psychological nature. As you watch Secrets and Lies, you think about why some people do good things, why some people do bad things? You will also consider what factors influence the choices people make? The characters are all morally complex, and you see what motivates people do behave the way they do. Nonetheless, things are not always what they seem to be. In cases like Ben Crawford, many people in the audience wonder why no one speaks up against the atrocities committed against Ben Crawford and his family, and why do people add to his suffering? It is inconceivable that a righteous person would sit back and watch a man be tortured and do nothing to stop it. Those who do not act are looked at as being indifferent or evil. However, we know that normal people can do some very evil things given the proper motivation. Kevin Williams, the African America neighbor used to work for the CIA, and is used to being discriminated against, he has a grudge against society, and when he gets the chance, he returns the favor by kidnapping Ben Crawford and trying to force a confession out of him. Jess Murphy, had an affair with Ben and gave birth to his son in secret, when he will not engage in a relationship with him, she accuses him of rape to make sure he goes down in flames.
Christi Crawford is rather cold and professional, she feels betrayed by the situation and does the best she can to be a good wife and support her husband, but she is hurt because she made some choices that she is not necessarily comfortable with and feels a little concerned that she may be responsible for how this situation turned out. While someone else in the miniseries just wanted to eliminate someone, they found undesirable and inferior. Often times, when people are given power, and they are not mature, nor used to having power, they will more than likely try to punish others, will be hostile, and will enjoy the power they have other others. They seem to be compelled to commit atrocities, engage in abuse, and generally treat others as subhuman. And although many people feel like hating Christi Crawford, at least she never displayed those traits, like Kevin, Jess, and detective Cornell did. Many people in Secrets and Lies engage in harmful and atrocious acts toward Ben Crawford, and they also diffuse responsibility. They demonstrate how human nature can be truly painful due to the experiences others have, and are looking to blame someone else, in this case Ben Crawford, for the choices and decisions they made. It is not that Ben Crawford is a bad guy, however, the community members are hiding evil inside of their souls and Ben is the perfect target to release it on because he has been demonized by the police and the media.
It makes these people feel good to take their frustrations out on a mark and to sit back and judge him, as it takes the attention off of them and makes them feel superior and important despite the pain and suffering, they are inflicting on an innocent man. After people engage in this game, they feel they have no choice and must go on. Knowingly causing harm to Ben Crawford, the community is engaging in a war against this man. They know what they are doing is extremely painful, and none of them express concern for his health nor safety. Many of the participants demonstrate clear signs of distress, including nervous laughing, sweating, groaning, and psychotic splits with reality. It is like these people are all following some kind of demonic orders from an authority figure and go far beyond their moral limits to inflict physical and psychological torture onto Ben Crawford. For example, it comes to light the Tom Murphy, Ben’s son, was murdered by a blow to the head with a flashlight, and someone breaks into Ben’s garage and places several flashlights like the murder weapon in his garage, and takes a key and scratches his car with it, in addition to spray painting “Child Killer” with red spray paint on his garage. The people in the community relinquish personal responsibility for their actions to Satan, an authority figure. This is known as authoritarian obedience. So Ben Crawford is seen as disobedient as he refuses to submit to Satanic rule and take the case for a murder he did not commit and is cited for insubordination and could face execution.
Research indicates that capital punishment is not an effective deterrent to criminal behavior, but a murder has been committed and someone must pay and Ben Crawford is the perfect scapegoat. Also, after what the community has done to Ben Crawford, making him pay for this murder will alleviate them from facing any criminal charges for the unlawful acts they have committed against him. And still, the community members do not see themselves as evil because they have convinced themselves that Ben Crawford is evil, when he is a very good guy, and that it is acceptable to treat him anyway they want to. And that is where that saying, “It takes one to know one” comes from. Essentially, much like Tom Murphy, Ben Crawford is deemed inferior and oppression and slaughter of him is acceptable in the minds of these demonically possessed people. Their sense of morality seems alien compare with Ben Crawford’s compassion and empathy. People are taught that they are superior to Ben Crawford because he has been accused of a crime, and this legitimizes actions that would otherwise be seen as reprehensible. Anyone who speaks out on behalf of Ben Crawford is likely to be chastised and others conform to avoid negative attention. Ben Crawford knows he is under threat and that his life could be extinguished at any moment. And community members who threaten, oppose, or abuse Ben Crawford are seemingly rewarded because someone has to pay for this murder and they are all making the investigation easy on law enforcement. However, not everyone in the community embodies evil, Christi Crawford is one of Ben’s best allies. Ben Crawford is condemned by nature and fortune to an active and restless life.
Secrets and Lies–Make Your Stories Sell!
He who is in the clutches of the law may think himself lucky if he escapes with the loss of his tail. Nature has created inequalities in men and things, and, as human institutions are intended to prevent the strong from oppressing marginalized members of the human population, ergo, the laws should encourage natural inequalities as a legitimate consequence. Secrets and Lies incorporates subliminal angles of the human psyche—obsessions some aspire to conceal, wickedness many refuse to admit. Detective Cornell acts as a malevolent force to Ben Crawford throughout the mini-series, representing the seduction of evil and the fear and torment within Ben Crawford. Once she realizes that Ben is out there, Detective Cornell becomes compelled with finding him and making him pay for a crime he did not commit, allowing the criminal to walk free, so she can inflict the venom of evil into his soul and turn him into a villain before the eyes of the community. detective Cornell knows Ben Crawford is innocent and feels culpability for the part she played in ceasing a man who has already suffered a tragic lose, and destroying his home, family, career, and life. As long as Ben continues to remain free, not only is it a constant reminder that law enforcement and community members tortured and persecuted and innocent man, but it also leaves the city and aggressors with criminal liability and possibly civil liability as well, and they all regret the decisions they made. However, the thugs keep profiling and trying to convict Ben Crawford because they feel if they can just convince themselves, and others that he is bad, it will remove any guilt or liability they have. However, what is done in secret will be brought to the light. So, detective Cornell and the community obsessively purses Ben Crawford. Detective Cornell probably projects her rage and frustration onto Ben Crawford for other things she has done in the past. Ben Crawford and detective Cornell are opposites, he has the World to live for, he is whole and complete and loved, but detective Cornell has committed some egregious sins, and is cold, fragmented, and lost. However, this villain, detective Cornell helps to bring out the hero in Ben Crawford, the audience sees his true qualities of love, compassion, strength, and perseverance, and he grows in the process—David and Goliath, a biblical example.
Although detective initially appears as an evil villain, there comes a turning point where she realizes that she is wrong and that they are putting Ben Crawford’s life in danger. She realizes that they are no better than ISIS and the people who attacked Paris, France, and takes a real interest in “helping” him. The innocents, determination, and compassion that Ben Crawford conveys, allows Ben Crawford to bring out the true detective in Cornell, to fight her way back to being a righteous detective. Yet, detective Cornell’s rage is one of her more enduring characteristics. She is constantly harassing and stalking Ben Crawford and using her job as an investigator to justify her actions, she allows people to interrogate him to see how she can twist and mangle his words, making him look like he committed a murder, even though her constant profiling of Ben has almost gotten him killed twice. However, sometime detective Cornell feels guilty about the ferocity of the evil she inflicts Ben Crawford and his family. Detective Cornell takes extreme measures to judiciously project her anger onto Ben Crawford by expending immeasurable city resources to try and wrongly convict him, at the expense of taxpayers and potentially putting other members of the community in danger. The resources used to make Ben Crawford look guilty could have been used to hire more law enforcement to protect others and pay unfunded pensions. However, detective Cornell’s interactions with Ben Crawford are slowly changing, she is no longer blaming him for her short comings, but instead feels a sadness and tries to connect with him and even protect him by letting him know his life is in danger. Detective Cornell desperately wants Ben Crawford to be saved, and her ability for good surpasses her ever-present anger and frustration. We see detective Cornell reach a point of clarity as she now is trying to save Ben Crawford.
Through the mini-series of Secrets and Lies, we see that people want to disrupt Ben Crawford’s life, and detract him, with strict authority, to slow down his accelerating movement to adulthood. Ben is accused of murder to keep him from growing and expanding beyond this sadistic cult in the small town. They want Ben to stay suppressed and small. However, Ben Crawford is a force of youthful heroism and is oblivious to danger. While the rest of the community is constantly acting, but rarely thinking about the repercussions of their actions. It becomes more and more easy for the audience to relate to Ben Crawford because we see he is righteous, and the rest of the community, and law enforcement are looked at as the bad guys. They see one person struggling, and instead of helping him, they attack him, without even knowing the facts. Not everyone can relate to Ben Crawford’s desire for justice, or his role as an empathetic hero, nor detective Cornell’s journey for domination and force to salvation. This is a story of good and evil and is meant to open the mind and show people that pack mentality is wrong and often times dangerous. Get your facts straight before acting on your limited vision, releasing your fear and frustration onto others. Unauthorized and abhorrent thoughts will sometime invade the best human heart. Remember, we live in a World, were an African American woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested because she refused to move to the back of the bus and let a Caucasian man have her seat. Now Rosa Parks is a legendary hero for calling attention to civil rights. By standing up for herself, Rosa Parks has protected countless lives from being wrongly stalked and harassed by law enforcement like our hero Ben Crawford is done in Secrets and Lies.
Randolph Harris II International Institute 