This makes me think of just how close Damien Echols (West Memphis Three) got to execution for a crime he didn’t do. Damien Echols - Wikipedia
IMO, if one innocent person gets put to death, that’s too many, and worth a hundred guilty people living out their years behind bars instead of being executed. I do not have faith in our system, unfortunately, and it’s only because of so much persistence and celebrity mouthpieces that the WM3 were finally released.
So yeah, I don’t see how anyone can support, much less clap and cheer, all of the executions in Texas. It literally makes me sick to my stomach and puts sort of a sad feeling in my heart. I can’t stand the thought of anyone being executed, regardless of guilt. It’s just not right to me. I can understand victims wanting to see this sort of “justice,” I guess, but I don’t think it’s something that should ever happen in a healthy society. But of course, this isn’t a healthy society, is it?
Of course. If I believed someone killed one of my loved ones, I want to see them skinned alive and personally torture them to death. But that’s why we have juries and courts.
I agree that since innocent people have been executed, imprisonment is the way to go.
I guess that’s where we differ. I believe we should love everyone, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done. Perhaps some people deserve to die for the betterment of society, for safety, or for justice, but we should be supporting capital punishment out of our love for other people, and not for hatred towards the guilty. Having such a negative attitude towards those who commit heinous crimes only makes you a smidge better than the person who committed the crime in the first place.
I love human beings, and when they are put to death, it is a regrettable occasion. Wishing for it to be as inhumane as possible is monstrous.
Yes we are completely different. Capital punishment aside, there is no way I can love, or even like, some random stranger as much as I love my husband. And there are simply too many assholes in this world for me to automatically like anyone, much less love them enough to equate the killing of a convicted murderer with the killing of someone I know and love.
I also completely disagree with “Having such a negative attitude towards those who commit heinous crimes only makes you a smidge better than the person who committed the crime in the first place.” Wanting revenge is a fairly normal human emotion. Going forth and killing someone for gain or just because is not.
I agree that it’s normal to think, or even say you’d like to hurt or kill someone for revenge, but actually advocating it or doing it is an entirely different thing. I think part of my problem with the death penalty is knowing that there are people who have to participate and make executions happen as part of their job description, and I just don’t think you could do that sort of thing and keep your humanity in check. I could be wrong though.
Yes. Of course, my opposition to the death penalty places me at odds with the majority of Republicans anyway. But I can least respect someone who says, sorrowfully, that the law of the land allows it and the crime is so heinous it is deserved. I don’t agree with it, but I can respect the position.
To cheer at the prospect, though… no. It is bloodthirsty and ugly, in my view.
Liking someone and loving them are two different things. I can love everyone, but only like certain people. It’s not like there is some emotional hierarchy where love is the ultimate thing, and liking someone is below it.
There are a lot of assholes in this world, and I don’t like many people at all. But I treat them with love and respect. And if they deserve to be punished, then so be it. Wanting revenge IS a normal human emotion, but so are many destructive human desires. Just because you want something doesn’t mean it is good. Actively saying that you wish someone would meet an inhumane demise, and implying that you would applaud such an act, IS heinous and almost as bad as actually committing the act yourself.
I’m not a religious person at all, but almost all the major world religions I know of espouse the virtue of loving and respecting everyone on the planet. There is a reason why we are supposed to treat everyone with love and respect, and it’s to keep us from unhealthy behavior. If we all loved each other, there wouldn’t be nearly as much crime, especially violent crime. Some people deserve to be punished, but actively seeking revenge is folly. I’m sure most religions agree. Putting someone to death is an act of love (towards society), not an act of revenge revenge.
I suppose that those folks are more like me, in that I don’t assign any value to any given person until they have shown they deserve it, and in my experience many people simply don’t deserve value due to the way they act. I suppose I have had to see, know and deal with far more shitty people than you?
For me, there is. I don’t believe I’ve ever loved anyone that I didn’t start out liking, and I know I’ve never loved anyone that I didn’t also like. For me, “love” is a much stronger “like”.
In your opinion. I personally am not such a perfect person that I cannot give into some of the baser instincts at times. If someone has hurt me so heinously as to kill my husband, I will have little trouble with the concept of hurting that person just as badly, if not worse.
I also reserve respect for those who earn it - I treat everyone with courtesy as long as they don’t do anything to not deserve that, but courtesy is a far cry from respect.
And most of them, if not all, have gone forth and abused/killed those who don’t agree with their chosen beliefs. Using religion to support your cause probably isn’t a good idea… :dubious:
Perhaps you are confusing love and respect with common courtesy? Which isn’t all the common anymore, but anyway - that is what keeps society clicking along. And some of that respect, but more for ideas, laws and mores, not for individuals. However, I don’t see how I can be expected to actually love the billions of strangers inhabiting this planet.
And I seriously disagree with seeking revenge to be folly, since you seem to be equating that with punishment. If I don’t exact my revenge (lawfully) to get someone punished for whatever transgression they have perpetrated on me, what is to stop them from repeating? Or others from following their example?
You mean you wouldn’t have an issue helping out with executions as part of a job? I’m sorry, I think I’m misunderstanding what you’re saying here. I don’t know you, so I have no idea if you’ve dealt with more shitty people than I have, but I kinda doubt it.
I think all people are deserving of a basic respect and value, and IMO, one would have to act badly enough to show that they DON’T deserve it. That basic respect is what makes us somewhat polite and considerate of those around us, even just simple things like accidentally bumping someone and saying, “Excuse me,” rather than just throwing elbows in the grocery aisles, and I think it makes it a little nicer world to live in. I actually couldn’t tell you a time when I decided someone wasn’t a valuable human being based on the way they behaved, even if they were kind of an asshole.
I guess it must just be a difference in personality, but if I approach the outside world with hostility and contempt that hurts me far more than it does anyone else. I’d prefer to deal with assholes by walking away, rather than making value judgments on it or allowing it to ruin my day. Again, that sort of thing just sort of poisons you from the inside out, at least in my experience.
First of all, you say you may be “a bit happy” then you ask “why be happy about it”? Is “a bit happy” different than “happy” in principle?
As for comparing it to spanking the child - you spank the child, but you love the child. I am sure some people are capable of loving the murderers on death row, but I am not one of them. I would imagine the majority of the public doesn’t love them either.
If by part of a job, you mean if I were a guard in a prison who walked condemned men down that last hallway or something, no I wouldn’t have a problem with that. I have more faith in the criminal system than you do apparently, in that I assume that anyone who has made it all the way to an actual execution is guilty of a serious crime.
Again, I consider that courtesy rather than respect - respect to me involves a judgment call, based on input as to what sort of person this is, which is not something I can do if I have merely bumped a stranger in the grocery store.
Heh, then it does sound like I’ve known more worthless folks than you…
Um, a lack of respect is not necessarily hostility or contempt - you’ve jumped right over neutrality; I am neutral about people that I don’t know enough about to either like and respect, or dislike/view with contempt/feel hostile about (where-ever they may lie on that continuum). As for walking away from assholes, I do that all the time as long as they have no impact on my family, property or peace of mind, which a vast majority don’t have. As a matter of fact, even when someone acts like an asshole, I don’t automatically assume they are in fact an actual in the flesh asshole, since we all have our moments.
Below is an example - I don’t know enough about Vinyl Turnip to make any judgment regarding respect, even tho s/he is acting like a brainless jerk here, so I personally do not care either way about this person.
Perhaps I interpreted you wrong, but it did sound like a pretty negative way to view your fellow humans. But if you say you’re neutral, I say lucky you! Haha, I’m a little crazy/emotional, so neutral just doesn’t happen for me, usually. As for who’s had more dealings with jerks, you may very well have had more experience in that area than me. However, I’ve dealt with far too many bitchy, drunk, grabby, foul-mouthed, cheap, assholes to count, and I’d be in big trouble if I let them get to me, lol. I guess what you’re saying is they don’t get to you either, ah well, I’m sure that’s true.
If you aren’t letting them get to you, then you are the next best thing to neutral! It took me some years to get to this, mostly cutting ties with my family but yeah, I don’t really care what people do, as long as it doesn’t affect me and mine.
Read the online comments sometime on any national news story about some heinous white criminal - I guarantee you’ll see plenty of calls for brutal execution. Lots of people just love the idea of the “bad guys” being brutally killed, whatever race they may be. Hell, read (and listen) to peoples’ opinions about child molesters - the majority of whom seem to be white. A few hundred years ago, in white countries, public execution and torture was an extremely popular public pastime. Believe me, the human DNA has not changed since then. The love of blood is still there, it’s just more suppressed. But it is still there.
So curlcoat, are you implying you wouldn’t love a baby, since obviously it hasn’t done anything to earn your love? Or how about someone born with down syndrome or other severe mental deficiency? Would you be incapable of love for someone like that? Could you be capable of loving a child who hasn’t come to understand anything about life or return your love? If you can, why stop with just babies? Do you love your family automatically or do they have to earn it? If so, why stop at just your family? Why not love everyone?
