Hello again guys! It seems every time I promise more regular posts I get sidetracked and forget about this. Hopefully sooner rather than later I'll become more consistent. As always, I look forward to catching up with my favourite bloggers and commenters, and will be browsing all of your archives over the next day or two.
A little note for these entries: This isn't how I feel now, this was all written a couple of months ago. It remains relevant though, as these feelings and thoughts return frequently, with varying degrees of severity. That said, I do appreciate the helpful comments and advice that some of you have offered, so thank you!
Also, I don't like this new blogger layout, just saying!
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Part Eight
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I live in a world where kidnapping is a crime, but the punishment is a lifetime’s imprisonment. So surely, the police, judge and jury are criminals too. No, they’re enforcing the same eye-for-eye “justice” system that we readily look down on when we see Arab’s cutting thieves’ hands off.
The argument often thrown up by haughty would-be debaters here is “yeah but if your kid got molested you’d want the bastard that did it dead” or “if someone killed your mum, I’d bet you’d want an eye for an eye then” and other inane hypotheticals.
Of course I’d want them dead, it would take a will of cowardice or a heart of stone to want anything less, but that doesn’t magically make it the right thing. He wanted to molest the kid, he wasn’t right, so how does my wanting him killed become acceptable? Are we really so savage and ill-evolved that we believe in punishment over treatment?
Punishment on our terms, too. To the point where, when we see that another nation operates under different terms, we kill them! There’s outrage at the slightest hint of mentioning the induction of Shariah Law into England, yet we readily invade other countries with force.
I don’t like Shariah Law anymore more than English Law. This isn’t a case of me claiming that “we’re the real bad guys,” but rather a case of me asking “where are the good guys?”
If a child hits another, we teach them that slapping is wrong, if a man hits another we lock him in a cold stone room for a few years. Why not teach the man? Who are we to assume this man has been taught what we have? He’s got something wrong, forgotten a lesson. I’m not punished if I forget a maths lesson, why is this different? Because it effects others? All the more reason to teach.
What if he deliberately ignores the lessons like I really did in maths? Maybe there’s something wrong with him, like there is with me. Treat him, make him well.
Interesting story, love it!
ReplyDeleteGood post dawg. I too don't like the justice system but all these things are money driven. It improves their rep to send a guy to jail for smoking weed, makes the public scared to do anything that "they" dont like.
ReplyDeleteA guy that kills doesn't deserve to be treated well. I don't like death penalty, i will give you that, but F murderers they deserved to be raped and beaten with golf clubs.
ReplyDeleteWow man, wow. You've done something extra with this post.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with your criticism of the justice system. In fact, I am under the impression that under Roman Law, it has always been possible to pay oneself out of the sentence one was given. What makes it worse are all these judges who only care about money, and having a high won cases percentage.
Then again, all that isn't really that relevant, because treatment is a better option than threats of violence or imprisonment anyway. It's like a parent telling its kid that something "is bad because I say so", instead of explaining to the kid why something is bad.
Anyway, uh, I'm sure I had some good point, but I must have forgotten it halfway through writing this comment. Great post.
These stories are a bright spot for me.
ReplyDeleteYou can't really teach adults like kids. If they do something "wrong", they are usually aware of it, so teaching them, that it's "wrong" does not help, cause they most likely already know it. Of course there are exceptions. In a perfect world, I'd agree with you, but in perfect world, there would be nobody, who would do harm to others anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe law is really just a measure of what people consider unacceptable at a given time and place. It's got nothing to do with good and bad or right and wrong, since no such things really exist. And yes, I would say we are that ill-evolved.
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