I’m watching as the tweets and posts come in about Troy Davis, and it makes me angry, that, yet again, government has decided that it is acceptable to kill someone.
For the record, I have always been against the death penalty. It has never made any sense to me. Theoretically, it’s supposed to deter people from killing other people by killing a person. To me, this doesn’t add up, and never mind the fact that it has never stopped people from committing murder, or any other crimes for that matter.
This isn’t about stopping crime. I don’t think it ever has been. I think it’s only been about revenge. About victims being so angry that they want someone to pay. Even if the evidence is flimsy at best. Even though they know that killing the other person will never bring their loved one back.
It is very easy to think of the criminal as a non-entity. The common attitude towards prisoners is “oh, well, they must have done something bad, so they deserve what they get!” In the case of murderers (alleged or otherwise), it is decided early on that, since they killed someone, they are not human.
The system as it is now treats prisoners as things and objects. There is no reform. This are no second chances. You get labeled a criminal for life. It’s near impossible to get a job, and for some crimes, you are even restricted from living in specific areas.
I don’t like what people do to each other. I do feel for the victims and their families. But I can’t get past the idea that killing someone to prove that a very broken justice system is doing something about crime when it isn’t. For some, it’s easy to talk about compassion for the victims, or for those who live far away, or for the poor or the homeless, but compassion for criminals? It’s unthinkable.
Let me put it this way:
If a murderer was dying in a prison and I got called to go and sit by their bedside, I would. They are no less human than I am.
My compassion isn’t dictated by the will of others, or the will of the state, or by what the person has done.
My compassion is for all beings.
I will serve the will of the Gods by caring for all beings who cross my path and are in need, regardless.
Well-written. And for the record, my following response is not so-much about you as it is this general rush to protest the state-sanctioned murder of yet another citizen… when TWO people were killed by the states yesterday.
Everyone is on the “Troy Davis bandwagon” and it is certainly morally defensible to do so. What bothers me personally about this is that everyone is going on and on about the “wrongness of the death penalty” with regard to a possibly innocent man… AND I HAVE NOT HEARD ONE PEEP OF PROTEST AGAINST THE EXECUTION OF AN AVOWED RACIST PROUD-TO-BE-KKK WHITE MAN WHO WAS EXECUTED IN TEXAS ON THE SAME DAY.
Either we are against the death penalty or we are not. Period. If we want to say that the death penalty is morally unacceptable then WHY WERE WE NOT PROTESTING AGAINST THE EXECUTION OF THE RACIST WHITE MURDERER AS WELL? Do we *really* oppose the death penalty only when it is the latest Cause Célèbre or when it is being applied in such an obviously unjust and racist way? The two are NOT the same thing…
If we OPPOSE the death penalty then we OPPOSE it. Period. It’s not a gradation of morality, is it? Or is it?
Ok… done ranting for now.
Bingo. Like I said, I’ve always opposed the death penalty. It has actually caused issues between friends, as I have a few that are very pro-death penalty. It basically came down to us agreeing never to talk to each other about it again.
(Also, I keep checking your blog because I keep waiting for you to post about it!)
exactly the thought in my head, thank you for stating it so well.
Well-written. And for the record, my following response is not so-much about you as it is this general rush to protest the state-sanctioned murder of yet another citizen… when TWO people were killed by the states yesterday.
Everyone is on the “Troy Davis bandwagon” and it is certainly morally defensible to do so. What bothers me personally about this is that everyone is going on and on about the “wrongness of the death penalty” with regard to a possibly innocent man… AND I HAVE NOT HEARD ONE PEEP OF PROTEST AGAINST THE EXECUTION OF AN AVOWED RACIST PROUD-TO-BE-KKK WHITE MAN WHO WAS EXECUTED IN TEXAS ON THE SAME DAY.
Either we are against the death penalty or we are not. Period. If we want to say that the death penalty is morally unacceptable then WHY WERE WE NOT PROTESTING AGAINST THE EXECUTION OF THE RACIST WHITE MURDERER AS WELL? Do we *really* oppose the death penalty only when it is the latest Cause Célèbre or when it is being applied in such an obviously unjust and racist way? The two are NOT the same thing…
If we OPPOSE the death penalty then we OPPOSE it. Period. It’s not a gradation of morality, is it? Or is it?
Ok… done ranting for now.
Bingo. Like I said, I’ve always opposed the death penalty. It has actually caused issues between friends, as I have a few that are very pro-death penalty. It basically came down to us agreeing never to talk to each other about it again.
(Also, I keep checking your blog because I keep waiting for you to post about it!)
exactly the thought in my head, thank you for stating it so well.