# Do liberals want Dylann Roof executed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 20, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986 "2015-06-20T01:03:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/141 "2015-06-22T05:47:24Z")
I’d never even thought about it, either. It would seem pointless: that Boston guy (not saying his name) probably won’t be killed for a long time, if ever. I also admit I kinda like the idea of him having to live in a racially diverse prison with people much stronger than he is. On the other hand, I hate what prison life does to people, and sometimes wonder if death is more humane. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/142 "2015-06-22T06:18:14Z")
I wonder how many people with life sentences if given a choice that at any point in their sentence, they could opt to be executed, would go for it eventually. People are pretty adaptable to their situation, I guess I could see how after a while you learn to make the best of the privileges you do have and the free food, but some might opt to die after a certain amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/143 "2015-06-22T06:21:35Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I also admit I kinda like the idea of him having to live in a racially diverse prison with people much stronger than he is. On the other hand, I hate what prison life does to people, and sometimes wonder if death is more humane. When convicted I imagine he’ll almost certainly be put in solitary for his own safety. A lifetime in solitary confinement is a pretty brutal punishment. He deserves it. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/144 "2015-06-22T10:45:56Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Generally speaking the death penalty is seen as an anti-liberal/right wing thing (though of course Communists used it plenty), but it seems like American liberals have largely moved away from the hippie and MLK-type stuff and towards a more reactionary and vengeful approach to fighting bigotry. > > Do you think this mass murder is going to cause an increase in support for capital punishment among liberals? I could see many progressive types cheering Dylann’s execution as a sort of come-uppance for the black community, though personally I would rather see mercy than vengeance play into this case. Apparently some of the victims’ families agree with me too. Liberal is not the opposite of right-wing; that would, fairly obviously, be left-wing. Liberal is the opposite of authoritarian. Communists were left-wing and authoritarian. Not liberal. I know that in the US liberal is often used to mean left-wing, but when you’re directly connecting liberals with communists you need to have the difference pointed out to you. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/145 "2015-06-22T14:04:00Z")
Another thread trying to get left wingers to admit that they really do want the death penalty for some people? Say it ain’t so! I still stand by my last words on the topic: I don’t want anyone to be put to death, ever. I don’t think the Nazis should have been executed after the Nuremberg trials. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/146 "2015-06-23T17:26:08Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’d never even thought about it, either. It would seem pointless: **that Boston guy** (not saying his name) probably won’t be killed for a long time, if ever. Mark Wahlberg? Tis a shame too. They’ll probably make more Ted movies. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/147 "2015-06-23T20:20:58Z")
So it seems some people think that society demonstrates its moral superiority to the murderer by mercifully refraining from killing him, while others feel that it is precisely through killing murderers that society demonstrates its moral superiority. Perhaps the more interesting question is: if our society is so darned morally upstanding, why does it keep producing all these murderers? I prefer to identify as leftist rather than liberal. I am in the camp of “generally opposed to the death penalty, don’t feel strongly one way or the other about an exception being made in the sort of extraordinary circumstances which are present in this case”. Like apparently everyone else, this particular case has not altered my opinion in the slightest. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/148 "2015-06-23T21:11:04Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I was sorta hoping there would be a trial first? Oh sure, make the monkey dance before you off 'em! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/149 "2015-06-23T21:14:51Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Another thread trying to get left wingers to admit that they really do want the death penalty for some people? Say it ain’t so! The OP either has not understood, or has not recognized as sincere, the reasons to be opposed, apparently thinking it’s really only a matter of a shortage of courage or outrage. As you say, nothing new. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/150 "2015-06-23T21:21:24Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. BILLY: No it doesn’t! There’ll be one guy left with one eye. How’s the last blind guy gonna take out the eye of the last guy left, who’s still got one eye! All that guy has to do is run away and hide behind a bush. I’m no racist, but I also don’t think the guy should be executed. Murder is still murder, even when the state does it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/151 "2015-06-23T21:28:08Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The OP either has not understood, or has not recognized as sincere, the reasons to be opposed, apparently thinking it’s really only a matter of a shortage of courage or outrage. I never thought of it that may. Testosterone poisoning is responsible for the death penalty. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986/152 "2015-06-23T22:02:48Z")
This liberal doesn’t. Even if I thought his crime was particularly heinous relative to other multiple murders (I don’t), I still would not support the death penalty. I should note that my death penalty opposition is largely results-based (that is, we are really bad at applying it fairly), but there is an element of principle in there too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-liberals-want-dylann-roof-executed/722986.md?page=7)