Robin Hood and Her Merry Women  

Robin Hood is a figure in archetypal English folk tales, whose story originates from medieval times. In popular culture he is painted as a man known for robbing the rich to provide for the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny.  From Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood.  

It does not matter whether Robin Hood would be a man or a woman.  What is of interest is whether we would see the rise of a person in our modern times who would go beyond the law to redistribute wealth in our market-driven economy.  

As we have seen in the essay “A Not-So-Divine Comedy,” capitalism has many deficiencies.  These deficiencies lend credence to the saying, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”  It is hard to compensate for these deficiencies because there are those among the wealthy who like for laws, systems, and customs to stay as they now are, because the status quo is good for maintaining or increasing their wealth.  

It is interesting that England had “courts of equity.”  There was a recognition that the law was not always fair, so the English had a court which dealt with fairness.  I had a professor at Cal State Los Angeles in the mid-seventies who said, as I remember, that there was a victim for every law.  

Might we see the rise of a modern day Robin Hood, be that a man or woman?  To some extent, we have computer hackers who take righteous revenge through their Web work, but that is not to say that every hacker is righteous.  Far from it.  But it would not be a surprise if the twenty-first century Robin Hood were a hacker, transferring large sums of money from large banks to community organizations, schools, and micro-lending institutions.

If you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in 2007 by a local nonprofit organization.  

1. What was one activity for which Robin Hood was reputed?

(a) His profligate lifestyle.

(b) Robbing the rich and giving to the poor.  

2. Why should we not be surprised by the emergence of a modern-day Robin Hood?

(a) Laws are not strict enough to prevent theft.

(b) There is a growing disparity in wealth and the means to redistribute wealth are inadequate.

March 13, 2008