Imagine Christ is standing there as you throw the switch or pull the trigger. What do you tell Jesus after you do it? If your Savior can hang bleeding from a cross, after having been whipped and ridiculed, and dying, and beg God to forgive those who did it to him; wouldn't it be the Christ-like thing to do to emulate Him?
See, to me, that starts to come closer to instinctive fight-or-flight reactions. You take it more personal and with good reason. But, the trick is to learn how to make the "if they kept me from doing that" and the "if they didn't keep me from doing it" result in the same action. It's equal whether it's a stranger or your daughter. That's tough. I'm not sure I'm there yet myself, but I want to get there.
I'm not condoning what they did, nor was Dean Smith condoning it. Those stories push my limit, too! But, what I do not condone, and what Smith was opposed to, is the State mimicking the act of murder itself. It's not "allowing them to live" it's "not murdering them."
I agree with this line of thinking. I sorta flip flop on it. I do believe, like someone posted above, that the death penalty should at least be "an option on the table" for judges to consider putting up for juror review for crimes that are particularly heinous, gruesome, sadistic, etc. IMO, the death penalty needs to at least be an option.
IMO, this is a terrible example for your argument against the death penalty.
Civil injustice happens more often than you know. I wasn't trying to use the film as an argument against it, directly. I already made that argument. I was using this thread to offer the film for others to check out. Although, I disagreed with their executions for the same reasons I disagree with any execution. The film exhibits how people warp and distort their better judgment based on emotions and revenge. To me, that is what executions are- revenge. That's not justice to me.
Well I'm certainly not in favor of either of your suggestions. By wanting it to hurt, then you're putting the "revenge" factor in it. I don't want the death penalty used for that. It's a safety and economic issue for me. That dude that raped and carved up 3 pre-teen girls isn't capable of being rehabilitated. I don't give a damn what any liberal psychologists says. But I also don't want to be inhumane if we can help it. We get nothing out of torturing the criminal. That's different than torturing some dirty, radical Islamist. If we can get needed information to preserve security for Americans, and torture might work, then I'm for it. But a criminal that's been to trial and been found guilty and is sentenced to death? Just put him down. But here's my suggestion - do it swiftly. Last I checked, death row inmates spend an average of 11 years on death row. And death row inmates cost more than regular inmates. There should be something put in place that makes this process move much quicker. Like an 18 month maximum wait time. I'm tired of Americans being required to pay for these degenerate bastards. And I'd also prefer to see a cheaper way of execution.
Strongly disagree. Killing someone because they murdered is society's way of defining it's boundaries of what is acceptable behavior. You transgress beyond that boundary, and there are repercussions. They have forfeited their right to live by the taking of an INNOCENT, key word here, life. Innocents are murdered. Killers of others are executed. That is not murder.
