jchrisobrien (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jchrisobrien) wrote2005-12-13 10:53 am
jchrisobrien) wrote2005-12-13 10:53 am
Yes. No. Yes. No. Maybe. Sometimes. Crap.
Call it the astrological influence of being a Libra cusp (concerned with balance), call it weighing both sides of the issues, or call it plain on wishy washy, but I have a profoundly hard time coming down on one side of the fence or the other for a lot of the big moral issues out there. The Tookie Williams execution is the latest example of this. If you don't know, just plug tookie williams in google and read about him yourself, you can make up your own mind as to whether he is repentant or not.
I was raised Roman Catholic, so I was taught that killing was wrong, be it during war, murder, execution, or abortion. Later I learned about exemptions during wartime, and taking a life while defending your self, and a thousand other shades of grey. I've seen the hypocrisy of people who are pro-choice but anti-death penalty, and those who say life is sacred unless you are a murderer. I hear the arguments on either side, and I sway to and for depending on the eloquence of the speaker or the precision of their logic.
It's more than frustrating, it's weak. Your beliefs define your character, and if you're beliefs change with the wind, what does that say about you? I believe that people are organic: they grow and change over time, and once your learn something that doesn't mean you are committed to that belief for the rest of your life. Change should occur after you wrestle with an issue, hold up your beliefs to a spotlight, kick the tires and see how they hold.
Buy the car because you like it, not because the salesman made you like it.
I am a vortex of thoughts and opinions. Murder is the worst thing you can do to someone. Forgivness is a sign of civilization. People have to take responsibility for their actions, and suffer the consequences if that applies. People can change. Some people never change. You can come from a horrible background and neighborhood and better yourself. You can come from a cultured, civilized background and be an amoral prick who justifies their vile behavior through philosophy or a thousand shades of grey. People will say anything to save their life. You can't force someone to change.
If it's inhumane to kill someone who has killed another, what do you do to them? How should they pay for their crime? How many years of your life should you sacrifice to pay for the years you took from another? Can you ever really pay for that crime, and if you can't, why bother incarcerating them in the first place? I am told there are plenty of studies that say that the death penalty is not a deterrent. By that token, people are going to kill or rape or steal regardless of what you do. What is our response to that?
These kind of question quickly spiral out of the micro view and into the macro. They become questions of culture, of society. People wouldn't steal if they weren't poor. Any society that grows has rules, and needs ways of punishing people who break those rules. All kinds of words on all sides of the argument again. Drowning in a sea of emotion and logic.
If I really buckle down and think about it, I can come up with answers that satify me. It's good when things happen that make you question your beliefs, and even better if you can be consistant about them in the end.
I was raised Roman Catholic, so I was taught that killing was wrong, be it during war, murder, execution, or abortion. Later I learned about exemptions during wartime, and taking a life while defending your self, and a thousand other shades of grey. I've seen the hypocrisy of people who are pro-choice but anti-death penalty, and those who say life is sacred unless you are a murderer. I hear the arguments on either side, and I sway to and for depending on the eloquence of the speaker or the precision of their logic.
It's more than frustrating, it's weak. Your beliefs define your character, and if you're beliefs change with the wind, what does that say about you? I believe that people are organic: they grow and change over time, and once your learn something that doesn't mean you are committed to that belief for the rest of your life. Change should occur after you wrestle with an issue, hold up your beliefs to a spotlight, kick the tires and see how they hold.
Buy the car because you like it, not because the salesman made you like it.
I am a vortex of thoughts and opinions. Murder is the worst thing you can do to someone. Forgivness is a sign of civilization. People have to take responsibility for their actions, and suffer the consequences if that applies. People can change. Some people never change. You can come from a horrible background and neighborhood and better yourself. You can come from a cultured, civilized background and be an amoral prick who justifies their vile behavior through philosophy or a thousand shades of grey. People will say anything to save their life. You can't force someone to change.
If it's inhumane to kill someone who has killed another, what do you do to them? How should they pay for their crime? How many years of your life should you sacrifice to pay for the years you took from another? Can you ever really pay for that crime, and if you can't, why bother incarcerating them in the first place? I am told there are plenty of studies that say that the death penalty is not a deterrent. By that token, people are going to kill or rape or steal regardless of what you do. What is our response to that?
These kind of question quickly spiral out of the micro view and into the macro. They become questions of culture, of society. People wouldn't steal if they weren't poor. Any society that grows has rules, and needs ways of punishing people who break those rules. All kinds of words on all sides of the argument again. Drowning in a sea of emotion and logic.
If I really buckle down and think about it, I can come up with answers that satify me. It's good when things happen that make you question your beliefs, and even better if you can be consistant about them in the end.
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See my earlier comments about the spiral. One man's murder becomes an indictment of our entire socio/political system, our way of life. I talked before about how we spend more on criminals than on the homeless. I wondered what was more cruel: killing someone, or shutting them in a cell for the rest of their life. People must be accountable for their actions, but we have to back that as a society. If we allow the death penalty, we must allow that an innocent person may die. If we allow LWOP, we must accept that we are spending money to keep these people alive. If we can stand behind our beliefs, with all the ramifications, that is at least a first step.
Without rules, we have nothing. Rules provide structure. The trick is making sure the rules work for everyone. If they don't, they need to be changed.
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