capital punishment

[Anarkid]

EDIT: On a side note, how do you determine what is a serious or life/death situation? Do you wait for the aggressor to show that they are seriously trying to do real damage or kill you? At that point it may be too late. I treat every act of physical aggression as a life or death situation. If I get into a physical confrontation, I am trying to do the most damage as fast as I can and get out of there. I am not there to score points or be a badass. There is no point. Just get the job done and get the fuck out of Dodge.

You stated you were bullied as a child, and I responded with that in mind: as such, it is reasonable to assume that school kids bullying others aren't trying to kill you. Hence, a cinder block is a horrible reaction. Stabbing is a horrible reaction.

I have never been in a fight in my life, so it is strange for me to "treat every act of physical aggression as a life or death situation": are you finding yourself in physical situations often? "If I get into a physical confrontation, I am trying to do the most damage as fast as I can and get out of there": This is a very depressing and sad statement I'm sorry to say. This is the attitude that has people beating each other to death, and perhaps finding themselves on death row.

How much of the violence in your life is others' random acts and not simply a reaction to the palpable aggression you exude? Like attracts like, anger begets anger. I know when I am angry, everything else seems to fuel that anger, feeding it until I realize the utter uselessness of living in such a state.

You missed where I live around one of the most high (violent) crime cities in America, I believe. I work every night around the corner from the most homicidal stretch of road in this area of the country. Random acts of violence occur often. You know how many times people have attempted to rob me? To jump me? Dozens. It isn't new. It isn't rare. It is strange for me to not treat every act of aggression as my last moments on Earth. That's how people get killed. I live amongst the underworld. I live in the drug culture. In the drug culture, illegal is the name of the game. How do you protect yourself in a illegal setting? You certainly don't call the cops (and I practice what I preach - as an anarchist, I will never call the cops and have never called the cops). People carry guns. I carry a gun. People fight. People steal. People harm one another in my life regularly. This is normal to me. I can understand how it would seem foreign to someone who has never been involved in such things, but to me this is life.

 

[obliguhl]

But even if you come to a point where you can justify it, does that make it fair for everyone else?

Without adressing the categorical imperative here....
Well, it's not about that, really. I can only speak from my experience and tell you what happened to me after something very "punishable" happened to someone close to me. At first, i was shocked, then, a sense of calm overcame me, with the clear determination, that the person in question should die. With that, a weird sadness took hold of me. I felt as if that poor person was beyond salvagable and needed to be destroyed for the greater good of society, and because...it was just the right thing to do. All resources would be lost on him and even if we had enough resources, these resources would be better spent on the victim. That's how i still feel. I would not go through with it, and would not advocate it, because in the end, said person is just hurt as well. Its a weird mixture of helplessness, anger, sadness and the feeling you get if you have to put down your pet bunny because it caught the sniffles.

As for violence being necessary...

Well, if you have lived a sheltered life, it is veeerry easy to argue from the moral highground. If fighting back is the ONLY option to prevent further damage and trauma to yourself, i can 100% understand the decision to be violent. Make no mistake, this makes you a contributer to hell on earth too, and it is selfish in a way. But then, we only live ONCE and if smashing a kid to the ground could mean a life without trauma, depression for you...then that's how it is. Unfortunatly.

 

[hug46]

PM me and we will meet somewhere and I'll punch you in the mouth. You try and talk me out of doing it again. Give me flowers, picket signs and posters, the whole nine. See if it works. I promise it won't. What would work is if you punched me back in the mouth harder than I punched you and knocked me unconscious. No more punches in the mouth from this guy. As barbaric and uncivilized as that experiment sounds, it is proof that violence is the only answer to violence.

What if i manage to dodge your punches, wait til you become exhausted and then try and get to the meat and veg on why you would want to punch me in the first place? Like a responsible adult.

I understand the concept of self defence but if you knock someone out who has punched you, there is the possibility that they will be waiting outside your house with a hammer to get revenge. Especially if they are the kind of person who is so delusional that they can justify any action. How far does this scenario escalate? A punch leading to a hammer, leading to a bigger hammer leading to a handgun? The most favourable result for me, after getting a beating (or hit with a hammer, a piece of 2 by 4 and stabbed), has been to approach my assailant at a later date, proffer a hand and let bygones be bygones. I have learnt the hard way that in a violent confrontation revenge can easily escalate into mutually assured destruction.

 

[bindu]

I think our society forgives too much white collar crime.

Not in Island, but there 10% of all people write and publish a book in their lifetime so they might have other interests then fast cars, footballs and cheap junk food.



Against anger, forgiveness works pretty well!
That is for your own anger, one still has to stand up against bullshitters as "evil" has no conscience...

A foolproof way to educate a donkey is still alternating between stick and carrot. Killing the donkey you would usually only do if you want to eat it. Perhaps human suffering is some kind of food to some beings...