His actions were violent and and disrespctful to humans and the earth. Did he write poetry? save someone's life once? make a child smile? what's the equation we use to decide whether his life was worthy of ending?
poetry+great musician-wife beating divided by making a child smile=hero or criminal?
For me if a life ends, no matter whose it is, there is a certain element of sadness when that life is ended in violence.
He apparently brought Iraq into the 21st century, a truly modern city. And then used it to attack Iran. Or was it the other way around. He got greedy by the sounds of things.
But...because he was hanged he has become a martyr. He'll be remembered by more people then the godfather of soul. Martyrs are always remembered. (ie:JC)
Saddam was much more successful at killing people than James Brown ever was. I`m an "eye for eye" kind of person in my old age. Especially when it comes to those who harm children in any way. Society has tried the "give your aggressor a hug" theory for over a decade. I was hopeful for it, but I think it has clearly failed. I think it was only succsessful at desensitizing us to acts of crime that years ago we would have been appalled. Now it`s more of a shake your head,change the channel. The hostage taking at the elementary school in Beslan? My God! That to me was the crime of this century. I would lose no sleep with the guilty involved receiving the death penalty for that.
What does being an industrialized country have to do with it? A murder rate is a murder rate. I`m not saying it`s the answer. I guess I`m leaning more towards what I consider "justice". I believe in second chances. I also believe that murder is usually a crime of passion, and that the killer is usually a low risk to re-offend. Let`s face it, there are some people who are actually evil. The one`s that are devoid of basic humanity.No chance of rehabilitation. That`s where my "natural selection" or "sink or swim" reaction kicks in. There has to be a cut off point where we say that this is unacceptable. Good bye. I know that can lead down a dangerous path. It`s ugly. It won`t happen. There are too many risk factors. Risks that I`m not willing to take. But when you hear of the indignities done to fellow humans by people who spend the rest of their days playing video games and basketball in jail... It makes me wonder at the very least.
is there one, or are we just stuck with humanity's basic evil?
i know that in at least some (prob'ly many) tribal cultures, killers or otherwise anti-social types damaging to the basic functioning were simply ostracized-- given a knife, a day's worth of food, and sent off on their own into the land.
Evil, good, these things are pervasive, yet I try and move to harnessing any negative energy I have through a vital reason or rationalisation, and by this I don't mean the 'reasoning' of something in a cognitive sense, but the physical reasoning, the existential reasoning, letting yourself feel what it feels like, the at points rageful feelings one may have when confronted with evil, whether external or internal; this work I would argue often turns to love.
That may be cryptic for some, but it really works.
As for the answer, I guess that is my answer, and I wish for the days when someone was told to leave, and they would often, likely to be judged by the environment, starvation or lonliness or both, whatever.
As for locking people up, who knows, and I think industrialisation has had much to do with it.
We have changed our environment, and that is something that has changed everything, such as a murder rate.
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14 comments:
what about it?
Does he deserve a positive comment in any regard?
Is he better or worse than James Brown?
Does wife-beating equal gassing Kurds?
Are his actions worse than Bush's?
Stuff like that.
:)
I'm not into equations.
His actions were violent and and disrespctful to humans and the earth. Did he write poetry? save someone's life once? make a child smile? what's the equation we use to decide whether his life was worthy of ending?
poetry+great musician-wife beating divided by making a child smile=hero or criminal?
For me if a life ends, no matter whose it is, there is a certain element of sadness when that life is ended in violence.
He apparently brought Iraq into the 21st century, a truly modern city. And then used it to attack Iran. Or was it the other way around. He got greedy by the sounds of things.
But...because he was hanged he has become a martyr. He'll be remembered by more people then the godfather of soul. Martyrs are always remembered. (ie:JC)
good point JC
he wrote a few novels
did you know that?
Saddam was much more successful at killing people than James Brown ever was.
I`m an "eye for eye" kind of person in my old age. Especially when it comes to those who harm children in any way.
Society has tried the "give your aggressor a hug" theory for over a decade. I was hopeful for it, but I think it has clearly failed.
I think it was only succsessful at desensitizing us to acts of crime that years ago we would have been appalled. Now it`s more of a shake your head,change the channel.
The hostage taking at the elementary school in Beslan? My God! That to me was the crime of this century. I would lose no sleep with the guilty involved receiving the death penalty for that.
the U.S., the only industrialized country that still uses the death penalty, has a murder rate 3 times higher than the next country.
we've tried an eye for an eye since the beginning of time, and that obviously hasn't worked either.
What does being an industrialized country have to do with it?
A murder rate is a murder rate.
I`m not saying it`s the answer. I guess I`m leaning more towards what I consider "justice". I believe in second chances. I also believe that murder is usually a crime of passion, and that the killer is usually a low risk to re-offend. Let`s face it, there are some people who are actually evil. The one`s that are devoid of basic humanity.No chance of rehabilitation. That`s where my "natural selection" or "sink or swim" reaction kicks in. There has to be a cut off point where we say that this is unacceptable. Good bye.
I know that can lead down a dangerous path. It`s ugly. It won`t happen. There are too many risk factors. Risks that I`m not willing to take. But when you hear of the indignities done to fellow humans by people who spend the rest of their days playing video games and basketball in jail...
It makes me wonder at the very least.
"`s "- I know :(
so, folks... what IS the answer?
is there one, or are we just stuck with humanity's basic evil?
i know that in at least some (prob'ly many) tribal cultures, killers or otherwise anti-social types damaging to the basic functioning were simply ostracized-- given a knife, a day's worth of food, and sent off on their own into the land.
babylon walls
Evil, good, these things are pervasive, yet I try and move to harnessing any negative energy I have through a vital reason or rationalisation, and by this I don't mean the 'reasoning' of something in a cognitive sense, but the physical reasoning, the existential reasoning, letting yourself feel what it feels like, the at points rageful feelings one may have when confronted with evil, whether external or internal; this work I would argue often turns to love.
That may be cryptic for some, but it really works.
As for the answer, I guess that is my answer, and I wish for the days when someone was told to leave, and they would often, likely to be judged by the environment, starvation or lonliness or both, whatever.
As for locking people up, who knows, and I think industrialisation has had much to do with it.
We have changed our environment, and that is something that has changed everything, such as a murder rate.
That`s a very liberal doctrine. If it works for you.
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