I was not referring to the manner of punishment, but to the irony of you wanting to severely punish people for merely advocating something you disagree with, when that something happens to be censorship. Have you ordered the cane and the guiding dog yet?
Thanks for the compliment **TVeblen[\b], I appreciate your glowing reply. Don’t get me wrong; for particularly heinous crimes committed by unmistakably guilty individuals, I do support the death penalty. In those cases, I believe the convict should be put to death as quickly and anonymously as possible, with the media being informed after the fact so as to blunt publicity as much as possible. In this thread, I just don’t think that “paybacks” do anything to prevent subsequent tragedies. Instead, an almost pornographic recitation of punishments ensued which made me feel very uncomfortable.
Good arguments, Rancloth, and I can’t say my own thinking on this has settled yet. I’m in a true crime phase, books and TV. Some of the offenders are so horrific I catch myself wondering whether they’ve crossed a subtle line beyond humanity. It’s mind-aching, and more than a little scary, to ponder when a person just might not be really human any more.
The possible causes are even slipperier. Some crimes are just so horrifying that any explanations–psychological, abuse, etc.–seem too murky to grasp. I guess that’s one reason I’d rather err on the side of permanent incarceration. (Not to mention the huge issues of false convictions, fair imposition of sentences, etc.) It’s an attempt, possibly just symbolic, to reject pain and violence as viable options for anybody, singly or societally.
There’s also a huge element of the old thing about when you peer into the abyss, the abyss peers right back at you. (Almost like a mirror?) I have my share of engraged, disgusted, pay-'em-back-in-kind moments. They leave me feeling sick, dirty and rather smaller once the initial rage subsides. Abyss vertigo. Vicious reprisals are still just more viciousness. Quite beyond what they do to the criminal, I don’t like what they do to me. I think they slide me an uncomfortable way down to that blurry line of inhumanity. It’s the farthest thing from forgiveness. I’m not good at that at all. It’s a strong rejection of lowering myself to their level or accepting their sick, vicious ways.
I’d consider it “Poetic Justice” myself. Kind of a twisted, Rod Serling “Twilight Zone” justice. If someone wants to stop someone else’s speech, then they’ll have that desire reflected right back at them.
And I thank you for that, sir.
One might argue…soldiers, and people in the military, kill people all the time, in some of the most violent and horrific ways possible. And the guys that they kill often aren’t even evil…they’re just the grunts working for the other side. But we don’t consider soldiers to be “evil” because of what they do. Nor do we think that all warfare is always wrong and evil…sometimes, it’s neccesary.
Oh, come on. Three hours of Verdi is a fairly light punishment. Now make it Wagner instead…
Maybe for the second offense. 