This is intended as a fairly light-hearted thread so if someone you love has been killed (or you yourself have been murdered and you’re looking for someone to haunt) I hope you will not be offended.
So you’ve been murdered. Apart from the obvious response “I won’t care if I’m dead”, how much do you want your death avenged? If your closest friend could do it without getting caught, and was willing, would you want them to do it? Does it depend on the nature of the murder?
Of course this is all hypothetical, but hypothetical things are sometimes the most interesting. I’m unsure about vengeance for my own murder. I think how the killer felt would affect that decision more than anything. If I’m killed in a mugging and the mugger goes through life thinking it was worth it for the meagre sum I’m likely to have had on me, I’d be more than a little angry. But strangely I don’t think I’d be so bothered if a serial killer murdered me. I’m not sure of the reasoning behind it, maybe because I feel like killing is as natural to a person like that as it is to, say, a tiger.
I’m more certain about the deaths of certain loved ones though. I know I would, at least at first, want to see some kind of vengeance.
I feel a little hypocritical on the whole issue, because I’m against capital punishment. I think perhaps I see more “justice” in avenging the death of a loved one yourself - with the risk of prison etc. if caught - rather than it being done officially and legally as an execution, which is just… creepy, to me.
Technically, I have no concern at all if I’m avenged after I’m dead. Vengeance is not going to make me stop being dead.
What I care about is not being killed in the first place. Vengeance is supposed to serve as a threat to prevent the actions that require it to be carried out. If a potential killer knows that my relatives will avenge me, he hopefully will decide not to kill me.
That said, even if carrying out a threat of vengeance serves no purpose in that particular case - it’s essentially closing the barn door after the horse has escaped - it does serve a general purpose. Following up on these threats which failed to work, makes future threats more likely to work.
There is a clause in my will: if I am murdered, I do not want my murderer to be executed by the state.
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Gandhi (attributed.)
But don’t ask me the Michael Dukakis question: “What if your wife were murdered?” (Or, in my case, sister, as I’m not married…) Because if my sister were murdered, I would no longer be able to make a rational assessment of the morality of punishment, and thus my opinions would, by rights (and logic) be disregarded.
If someone murdered someone I love and I was able to get to them either before the cops did or after they got out of jail, what I would do to them would make both Stephen King and Dean Koontz wake up screaming in the middle of the night and pissing on themselves.
I’ve already made plans to have my death avenged. Since I don’t know who will kill me, there’s going to be a lot of collateral damage. I apologize in advance if I happen to die of natural causes.
If somebody killed somebody I loved, whether by texting while driving or as a serial killer, if I could get to them I would tear out their throat and smack my lips on their blood. And even that wouldn’t be enough.
If somebody killed me I would haunt their ass just for the fun of it. Because I suspect the process of death to be a kind of trip with those great big lollipops and unaswered questions found questionable, I would like to land in a pond of koi. Or in Alaska.
I’d rather they be brought to justice, in terms of protecting society and acting as a general deterrent and perhaps rehabilitation.
In terms of punishment, I believe the natural consequences of committing an act of evil (or with an evil mindset) on a person are far more punishing than anything me or mine could do to them. If anything I’d eventually get over my anger and just pity them.
No vengeance for me, thanks. I wouldn’t wish becoming a killer onto my worst enemy, much less someone I care about. There’s a distinct sliver of happy, ignorant innocence in everyone that shatters to splinters when they kill another human being. I don’t know how big or small (since mine is intact), but it’s there. I could never in good conscience take that away from someone I care about. I’d much prefer my murderer be brought to justice via the legal system, or not at all, than for a friend or family member to kill him.
Although if a pair of crows pecked his eyes out, I wouldn’t be upset
I’d like the murderer to die in some way (falling down the stairs is good enough, it doesn’t really matter), but for the circumstances to clearly and obviously identify him/her as the murderer - a bit of closure for my relatives, if they’re grieving.
My middle daughter has shown interest in riflery. I plan to turn her into an unstoppable killing machine from anywhere up to and including 600 yds. away. The last thing that goes through my murderer’s mind will be a .30 caliber 150 g FMJ bullet.
