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originally posted by: VoidHawk
originally posted by: MarlinGrace
a reply to: VoidHawk
There is so many ways to look at this it would make a person crazy.
The penalty needs to be so that a person says holy cow if I kill so and so this happens, and I don't want that. This is why the mob had rules everyone knew the rules, you didn't want to kill a mob guy.
Personally I think it should be a long time in jail and your life is so miserable while there you wish you were dead. None of this television, exercise equipment, conjugal visit kind of stuff.
"The penalty needs to be so that a person says holy cow if I kill so and so this happens"
The problem is that (unless its a mob killing) most murders are done in anger, when the murderer isn't thinking about the consequences, so I dont think it matters what the punishment is.
Whats your view on the person who is an upright citizen, never done a bad thing in there life, but something causes them to momentarily flip and they find they've just killed someone. Are they the same as the Mob murderer?
originally posted by: VoidHawk
a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe
Hi Kangaruex4Ewe
You said
I waffle back and forth on the whole issue
Is that because your being swayed by other peoples replies? or are you flip flopping as you think about it?
I had spotted your post in the other thread and starred it because you were at least giving it some thought, unlike many who just seemed to want blood.
What do you think about the issue of the condemned persons children having to be told their father is going to be killed? Many people refuse to go there! Just wondering what your thoughts are on it?
originally posted by: Diderot
a reply to: thesaneone
"I can respect and understand your anger but executions have been going on since the beginning of time and the executions were held in public areas so this bloodlust that we have has been imprinted in our DNA for centuries.
We are what we are."
And what we are is a world that advances by rejecting old barbarities. Execution in the public square is no longer civilized in our culture. Most of the world today shuns execution, and one day we will again throw this bloodsport on the trash heap of history.
originally posted by: Diderot
a reply to: MarlinGrace
Dear Graceful Marlin, Im sure that we agree that we can't escape human nature. But to me that's not a bad thing.
We are like petulant children, smashing our toys and forever throwing tantrums. But someday we will grow up, and learn how to behave in public. Maybe then aliens will deem us worthy of their company, and a saucer will land on the White House lawn.
originally posted by: allenidaho
Sometimes capital punishment is necessary. But that doesn't mean that every murderer deserves it. A singular crime of passion or anger usually means you just made a very big mistake. It doesn't really prove that you are a threat to society. But you should probably spend most of your life in jail just in case.
Then you have those that DO deserve it. The serial killers. The spree killers. The Cartel bosses. The terrorists. Those that will continue to do harm until they are stopped. They are a cancer. And if you let a cancer go untreated it only gets worse. Throwing these types of people in jail does not stop them from doing harm. They have to be cut out.
Does that mean they should suffer? No. I mean, this is exactly why the Guillotine was invented. It's over in less than a second with one clean cut. There is no prolonged pain. No botching the execution.
originally posted by: Diderot
a reply to: MarlinGrace
When it comes to a greater capacity for love, I think that we humans simply have an intellectual understanding of it. Just consider the countless offspring over time who perished because their parents were not quite "loving" enough. The life that we see around us is here today, because their/our ancestors won the "love" sweepstakes.
originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
a reply to: VoidHawk
Yet your main points were not capital punishment, but the emotional responses to that issue and the much larger one of the emotional reactions and how they may or may not be nudged along by those who would direct society from the shadows. This last aspect of your OP seems to have almost gone entirely without comment, yet to my mind is the most important.
originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
a reply to: VoidHawk
I have read that this 0-1 pattern of behavior is set in our neural complexes as a survival mechanism. Makes sense to me but I don't know enough to be sure.
I agree entirely, but it doesn't look very promising
originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
a reply to: VoidHawk
Only by first becoming aware of this pattern can one begin to understand the fruitlessness of all these arguments.
Again I entirely agree.
originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
a reply to: VoidHawk
It seems to me that these patterns of thought hold true not only for capital punishment but again seem to me, to hold true across a large collection of issues we argue daily.
I doubt there's many people who could truly claim they've risen above such behavior. One of the reasons I hang out in ats is because I can use it as a mirror and (hopefully) see my own failings.
originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
a reply to: VoidHawk
Though I like to tell myself, "Gee Terry, aren't you glad you have risen above that pattern of judgment", I still find that all to often I am still pulled into the " those guys are idiots and JUST DON"T GET IT' type of thinking. And the worst thing about this kind of thinking is the fertile ground it creates for those shadowy figures to plant in.
originally posted by: VoidHawk
Until we make ANOTHER mistake and get the wrong person! And if its the right person, what about their family? do they deserve the horror of knowing their partner or maybe even father is going to be killed? What about their loss?
Capital punishment does too much damage to innocent people, we have to find another way.
originally posted by: VoidHawk
YOU DO REALISE THAT BY THE TIME MOST OF YOU REACH RETIREMENT AGE TPTB WILL HAVE CONVINCED THE SHEEP THAT THOSE WHO ARE NO-LONGER PRODUCTIVE MEMBERS OF SOCIETY SHOULD BE TERMINATED!!
Have you thought about that?
Dont believe it? then please explain why they wouldn't do it!