My list of never-dos would include rape, arson, stealing from less fortunate folks like the aged and children, killing for profit.
Oddly enough, I think there are circumstances under which I could possibly kill another human - for example, if someone killed or raped a family member. I suppose that I could steal from the rich if me and my family were in dire straits.
Ditto. That’s actually the main (if not only) reason why I’ve never done any drug stronger than pot, and why I’ve only gotten drunk enough to black out once. Ok maybe twice, but both times were in my early 20s (I’m now 36).
I also agree with you that prostitution should not be a crime, but right now it is (at least in my state). So it made my list.
And I could imagine myself embezzling. I’d never do it, for moral reasons and also for fear of getting caught, but somehow, getting caught up in some Office Space-like scheme doesn’t seem that farfetched.
I could also imagine myself doing some sort of black-market sales, especially if it was selling something that I strongly believed should be legal to trade openly, like marijuana.
I can’t imagine myself committing an act of physical violence. I can’t even imagine myself doing it in self-defense, which is not a good thing!
Genocide. I doubt that in this life I will have the power to commit genocide. If I did gain the power to commit genocide I doubt I would use genetics as a determining factor. I would probably be more broadly selective in my mass murder. I’d rule by assassination squad and watch for malignant ideologies or the wrong people in power positions.
Sorry, should have said most “evil” acts. Reckless driving is more evil than prostitution IMO. Still, it is a crime in most of these United States and had been mentioned a couple times previously, so I tossed it in there.
There’s not too much I wouldn’t do (if I had the power/means to do so). I wouldn’t do heavy drugs (IRL, I don’t even smoke or drink), but only because I think it’s stupid and gross. I’m pretty sure I could commit murder and probably even torture certain deserving people. I could definitely commit infanticide. I’m very interested in the ethics of cultural relativism, so in certain contexts I’m okay with most things. I could certainly commit rape (again, deserving folks), and I have been a rape victim so yes, I know what it’s like. I’d really like to turn the table and, say, force my own assailant to masturbate at gunpoint. That’s a much more sadistic strategy for male rape than sodomy with a broomstick or something. I don’t consider prostitution or many kinds of theft as seriously criminal. I would shoot God in the face. I would never abuse children or animals, though.
If you met me, though, you wouldn’t believe any of this. I look like a babydoll or something, right down to the pink bows in my hair
I actually can see my self as being capable of doing most crimes, but I cannot see myself wanting to do them. The only ones I can almost certainly negate is anything to do with needles. I have a pathalogical aversion to needles. I am so freaked by them that even if someone hooked me on drugs, I don’t think I could bring myself to touching a needle or one touching me. I don’t know what adiction is like, but I know what my fear of needles is and it is nutso.
Anything else, I suppose I could. Maybe in some people’s eyes I have. I was in a couple of wars and people died. Some could say that was murder. When I was younger, I made love to women who were even younger and that could be considered rape.
I’m glad I’m not the only one. I put some thought into posting (before remembering that no one really cares what I claim) for fear that everyone would think of me as an anti-social psychopath, when in fact I have very few psychopathic characteristics at all.
Once upon a time there was a certain young man who was my rival for a certain young lady’s affections. I hated that motherfucker so bad I contemplated getting myself a gun sending him straight to hell, where he belonged.
What dissuaded me were two things. One was the certainty that I would be caught and sent to jail for a very large fraction of the rest of my life. Easiest case in the world for the cops to crack, and even in my early 20s I knew that the main way cops solved murders was by the “duh” method. Find the person with the motive and opportunity, then find the physical evidence, and blammo, you’re doing 25 to life. And if I wanted to throw my life away over this incident, there were better ways to do it…I could become a drifter. Or kill myself. Or whatever.
The other was the realization that even if I could somehow get away with it, that wouldn’t solve the problem, which was that this person who I loved desperately didn’t quite feel the same way about me, and the problem wasn’t that this other guy existed, if this other guy were erased from the planet the problem would still be there. The flaw in my little plan was that it just wouldn’t work, on any level.
And so I believe I am capable of murder under the correct circumstances, it’s just that I don’t imagine that those circumstances are likely to present themselves, and I’m not likely to arrange things to put myself into circumstances where I’ve painted myself into a corner such that murder starts to look like the best way out. Of course, I can imagine killing during a war, or in self defense too, but realistically I’d probably freeze up and panic and only later realize that I should have shot the guy, only now it’s too late because I’m dead. I’m really terrible about making split second decisions.
For some reason, I visualize you saying these three lines in graveley voice after lighting a cigarette and taking a long pull of whiskey, in black and white, with a saxophone playing in the background.