Justice : Should It Be Challenged With Love?

I wanted to get your opinions on Justice.

Disclaimer:
I expect most people to hold a belief about the importance of justice in life but I bring this topic up for discussion for entertainment. With that said, I wanted to challenge the idea of justice. Before anyone gets carried away, I bring this discussion up for entertainment and I don't necessarily deny that justice has a place in our life.

Justice feels good to see when someone who we think deserves justice gets it, making justice seem more like an emotional control response. Justice resembles a control mechanism but that can be understood because who wants a serial killer going around killing without restraint? The problem with control is that it doesn't solve the root of problem. Sure we can put a killer in jail but that doesn't fix what happened.

Is justice the only way to stop a person from hurting others? Maybe in this world it is.

Love is spoken of as a powerful force but in this world it doesn't seem to have much power at all. It is common to just execute, torture, or at least detain criminals with no intent of love but of fear. Society doesn't seem to put criminals behind bars because society loves criminals but because they fear criminals hurting others.

Is Love(forgiveness) really enough to take the place of Justice(in the context of forcibly controlling another with the intention of punishment)?

Whether justice exists or not, it is forgiveness that eases the pain. Even even when justice is desired, it seems to be wished for to be a catalyst to bring forgiveness or the effect that forgiveness would bring(emotional pain relief).

reply to post by Ralphy


Justice is a social construct to allow humans to better co-exist with one another. Its effectiveness is open to interpretation, but in my opinion it prevents our society from descending in chaos.

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.
Aristotle

reply to post by Ralphy

Like I herd in an old timey rock and roll song once," Happiness is a warm gun."_javascript:icon('')

Justice exist without love,humility or empathy.
It's kinda like the chicken and the egg dilemma.

reply to post by Ralphy

Justice resembles a control mechanism but that can be understood because who wants a serial killer going around killing without restraint? The problem with control is that it doesn't solve the root of problem. Sure we can put a killer in jail but that doesn't fix what happened.

In this example it's not just putting the serial killer behind bars, it's preventing the killer from taking more human lives.

Is justice the only way to stop a person from hurting others? Maybe in this world it is.

I have no doubt many crimes are a result of circumstances from an imperfect social system and not the result of some innate evil.

No doubt this system can be improved and therefore address the root cause. We have a moral obligation to making those improvements, but we also have an obligation to saving human lives by putting killers behind bars (even if it's not addressing root cause).

I believe your question applies to every family member, every mother and every person that has loved someone who has gone out and done something outrageous. Is love enough? I believe we want that to be the case. ..........

Is love enough? I'm sorry, but it's not. THAT is reality, and it sucks.

Love can not RULE because love doesn't control. It forgives and let things be. If people use Justice then they can CONTROL others, so as long as there is a "I need to control" mentality, Justice will be more important than love in their minds.

reply to post by arpgme


The need for control stems from the lack of love...



What will be our defense when we are held accountable for our complacency of standing by while our children are raised up into a system that we have let corruption and deception become part of their education and future while we live for temporary justice further degrading love for our fellow human beings.

Originally posted by Ralphy

Love is spoken of as a powerful force but in this world it doesn't seem to have much power at all. It is common to just execute, torture, or at least detain criminals with no intent of love but of fear.

Justice and love were never meant to go hand in hand. If you think about it, we need justice for the simple fact that people don't know other people that well. If someone does something wrong and you know WHY they did it, you could come to a better solution to fix that problem other than locking them behind bars. Our current brand of justice is kind of barbaric if you think about it.

Love on the other hand requires knowledge. You can't love someone if you don't know them so, with the way society is turning out with people doing less one on one communicating then ever before, I'm seeing less understanding and less love for people in general in the foreseeable future. There are too many distractions that get in the way of most people focusing on love. It doesn't take precedence and, if you think about it, it never has.

Ever see two people walking down the street, hand in hand, looking at each other in a way that makes it obvious that they are deeply in love with each other? They seem to be in their own little world don't they? There's a reason for that. Love and society don't go hand in hand. They never have.



There are two ways of looking at this really:





Which side of fence are you on?

I may be on the outer fringe on this because I believe that if my own child was a killer or child predator I would have no problem taking them out myself. As their mother and the one who unleashed them on society I and I alone would be the one who bore that responsibility. I would do it because I loved them though I doubt many would understand that. I don't see it as being any different from putting down a beloved pet who has gone bad or become rabid. It doesn't mean I love them any less just that I love them enough to free them from that type of existence.