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SCOTUS: Can't execute child rapists

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Songbird, Jun 25, 2008.

  1. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    You should stop tossing that metaphor around like it's a new toy.
     
  2. It is barbaric. Absolutely. That's not the argument here - it's a non-starter. We all know it is. No one has argued that it isn't. You're arguing a phantom.

    Couple things:

    1. When someone commits a heinous crime, sadness is by far by prevailing emotion, rather than anger and vengeance.

    2. Maybe this will explain my position better - of course child molestation is barbaric. But is that the kind of society we want to live in? Where we try to one-up the worst among us? We'll be chasing our tails forever that way - and have.

    Capital punishment may make the more angry among us feel better momentarily. But the existence of the death penalty weakens our society in the long run. We need to attack the root of the human societal problems that allow these acts to exist in the first place. I'm more for prevention than retribution - and, yes, I understand that the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but I do know which one seems to get people's juices flowing more than the other. It's much easier to just zap people and congratulate ourselves than it is to fix our ills - that takes time, thought and more patience than many of us have.

    Also - I can't believe you're really getting so pissed that other people have a different worldview than you on this issue that you're taking your ball and going home.
     
  3. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    yeah, and once all the pricks you hate are dead, you'll bring the hate on someone else and want to kill them, too.

    absurd is a narrow definition of what you think is bad today.
     
  4. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    Yea, I was raped as a teen (didn't report it, so he got off), and you're an idiot.

    Dwelling on the past and continuing to allow the rage to dominate my life means he wins.
     
  5. RedSmithClone

    RedSmithClone Active Member

    SC, sorry to hear about your situation.

    I'm glad you have managed to move forward with your life. That makes me admire you even more than I did before.

    But at the same time we are talking kids 12 or 13 and younger here. when they are hurt like this at the age of 5 or 6 it's not as easy to be mature about it and try to better your life.



    ################################


    To WaylonJennings point - I too am opposed to the death penalty, as I am abortion and any other forms of state-sponsored murder, and it's the one thing I actually like in the Massachusetts justice system. But I still believe this is a State's Rights issue and that the SCOTUS should not have overturned the state's law in this case. I mean afterall, as is the case in abortion, we've always been told we cannot legislate morality.
    Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was actually on TV the other night talking about this and the gun law that was overturned.
    If the current recall of Jindal fails, he is likely to push new legislation regarding this death penalty law for child rapists again. And despite being against the DP personally I hope he does.
     
  6. Yeah, see, that's not a good argument to me. Barack Obama himself - in the speech that James Dobson has attacked by taking out of context - explained that it's silly to say we can't legislate morality, that what are our laws if not a codification of our shared morality and values?

    Where it gets sticky is when we begin legislating personal morality that doesn't seem to infringe on others - homosexuality being the easiest example. Of course, you also get into whether it's a moral issue at all - or whether we're trying to overrule biology, a losing battle if there ever was one.

    The abortion issue is stickier still. Pro-choicers see it as a personal choice. Pro-lifers believe life begins at conception, and it is not a victimless act. That philosophical chasm is so wide that I have never believed a satisfactory compromise is possible. Nor have I been able to come to a stance on it satisfactory to even myself.
     
  7. RedSmithClone

    RedSmithClone Active Member

    Very true, and very good points all.

    But, this point you make: "what are our laws if not a codification of our shared morality and values?"

    The problem we face today is that shared values are not the norm anymore. There is an older generation living and believing in the traditional values - say Judeo-Christian philosphy - and a younger generation who are more secular in making decisions on morality.

    Now I'm someone who at 31 is caught in the middle, because I do have a strong Judeo-Christian background, but at the same time am all for equal rights for the gay community.

    I am so friggin all over the political spectrum it's just impossible for me to find someone who actually would fight for everything I care about. Sometimes I wonder why I even care so much about politics, because all it does is get me upset at everyone on both sides and give me headaches and heartburn.
     
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