Message #70599

[Vellos]

I almost agree with you. My issue with executing those who have committed crimes stated above, is that those executing them usually feel no guilt, which scares me. By those who feel no guilt, I mean the public. If your justice system executes a rapist, that blood is on the hands of all who abide by the justice system. I remember when Tookie Williams was executed, that execution is specifically on my hands because it took place in California, the state I have the power to vote in. If my state feels it's okay to execute people, then by all means, execute, but I feel that too often the public doesn't truly understand what is happening. They tend to not understand that they are just as guilty of taking a life as the man or woman administering the execution of the said criminal. When we as a society make the decision to murder, we can't simply walk away from it as if we're just administering punishment, we need to understand why we made that decision and accept that we and I, have just ended the life of a human being. So I don't think it's as easy as "Why let them rot and waste our money when we can use that money for the poor?" A society that is quick to kill and slow to think is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous than some serial murderer. I don't fear the boogieman living under my bed, I don't fear Ted Bundy crawling in through my window, I fear an out of control bloodthirsty society, because that often times leads to an iron fisted government. Reign of Terror?

Yes, perfectly. I fully agree with you. As much as I dislike Westboro, I appreciate their existence simply because they're allowed to exist. You know what I fear more than Westboro growing? A government or public that says they can no longer share their beliefs. If you take away their freedom of speech, you might as well burn the constitution. We need hate speech to be protected because if its not, how are we supposed to speak out against unjust laws that we hate? Who's to say they won't take away another form of speech after taking away hate speech? So once again, I very much agree with the quote above, very well put.

+1