There have been more than a few people in the skeins of time that have been labeled as being a traitor, some with justification, and some not. The thing about the undesired moniker of a traitor, is that it is important first to define what actions are the clear marks of a person that is a traitor. So then, a fair definition of what a traitor is, would be someone that takes leave of a particular cause that for all intents and purposes is good, so as to turn against this same justified cause, in order to do material harm to it, made worse by those that do such, for a price or for some other personal benefit, in kind.
So then, a traitor isn’t just somebody that leaves a particular cause to fight then on the other side, in which, their reasoning is that the other side of that cause is actually the correct one to be on; but rather a traitor is anybody that leaves the side of good and justice, to embrace the side of evil and injustice, of which they clearly know that they are on the wrong side but do so for typically their own personal benefit or gain.
In regards to those that switch sides, because they have been severely pressured to do so, or have been seriously threatened, or their family has been clearly endangered, or they are at their wits’ end, these thus fairly represent those types of situations that are typically not traitorous, but rather are adverse situations that do not lend itself to easy solutions, in which, those that are not able to exercise true free will are thus compromised then in what they so accept and do. These then aren’t people that are actually traitors, but are instead people that have been compromised, which is not the same thing.
To be a traitor necessitates the voluntary relinquishment of a given belief so as to go against one’s better judgment, typically for material gain, or to assuage a hurt ego, or both. What makes traitors so noxious is the fact that they have left what is good and right, in which, they did not have to do so, but deliberately chose to make that choice, for whatever reason, and have compounded their error by then actively working against that which is good and right, instead.
To be a traitor is a very low road, of which, by definition, there are no traitors that are heroes, ever, and never will there ever be. After all, it is one thing to switch sides because one no longer believes in a given cause or perhaps have come to the conclusion that the side that they were on, was wrong – but it’s an entirely different thing to work actively against that which is right. Those that are traitors, know who they are, and the ultimate price that they will pay, will be exceedingly high, for having been on the right side, to switch to the wrong one, has the most serious of consequences, to own up to.