Let's rank all crimes in order of badness

Sorry about that - I wasn’t paying too much attention to the order of the existing list, except to try to find an appropriate position for clownicide. It won’t happen again - maybe you can choose an appropriate slot for the crime of not paying attention.

Hedley Lamarr: You said rape twice.
Thug: I like rape!

Child abuse ranks up there with murder for me - maybe higher - a murderer might not murder again - I’m still confused as to why child sex offenders are released from prison. It’s robbery of the soul.

If we’re narrowing down rape to rape by a friend or a loved one, I think I might say that’s worst. I remember studying in psych of sexuality, the idea of childhood sexual abuse and the two factors were (I think) how prolonged or severe the abuse was and how close the child was to the person, the reasoning being that a child sexually abused by their family member would probably have a lot more trust issues than someone raped by a stranger. But then again, I don’t really like the idea of saying one person’s suffering is worse than any other’s…

I know that’s a joke, but of course 75 years is the average life expectancy at birth. A 90-year-old person does have a few years of expected life left.

It’s murky stuff indeed, interesting points. I have a male friend who was jumped on and beaten randomly - he wasn’t raped but he suffered very very badly thereafter with fear, trust, going out after dark, being alone etc.

When you’re dead, you’re dead. I imagine it can’t be that worse than sleep, and it’s going to happen to you anyway, it’s just a matter of when.

Torture is something you’re going to have to live with your entire life. Your one and only life. Especially if you have visible scars to remind you of your time in the torture chamber. Imagine some of the psychological torture techniques, like making you repeatedly watch the video tape of your wife and kids getting killed. And then if you’re young enough, you have a reasonable chance of living 50-80 more years with the pain and possibly crippling effects of that memory. It adds up to one of the most horrible things you can do to a person.

I would expect death by itself to be a cake walk in comparison.

All politics aside, McCain has made a pretty good run at life since being tortured. Career in the US senate, married to a hot younger rich lady, 2 bids for the presidency . . . the boys that were killed while he was being tortured know nothing of the last 40 years. They didn’t get to come home, have kids, and lead any kind of life at all. Torture sucks balls, but murder is still worse IMO.