Blunderov
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"We think in generalities, we live in details"
  
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RE: virus: Evil is a word which we use to stop ourselves from feeling empathy...
« on: 2006-01-06 02:21:03 » |
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[Blunderov] The recent execution of Tookie Williams was, to my mind, even
more than usually sad. It seemed so utterly nihilistic; apparently some
things are not possible in this universe and sometimes redemption is one of
them.
http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/sentinels.htm
<snip>
Punishment is sexy. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be nightclubs called
'Spank' and the York Dungeon would go out of business.
There is nothing particularly wrong with this.
However, fetish clubs and Dirty Harry movies are not a particularly useful
template for international diplomacy or social policy.
When a nasty crime happens, we feel outrage. Very often we express this
outrage by imagining ourselves inflicting pain on the person who committed
it.
There is nothing particularly wrong with this.
However, when we start to say that because we feel like hurting the
murderer, we ought to be allowed to really hurt the murderer, we are making
a category mistake. 'I feel like whipping that criminal' should not lead us
to think 'Criminals should be whipped' any more than 'Windows 2000 is a
bastard' should lead us to check its birth certificate. </snip>
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