I agree with
BorderPatrol about why we would not execute Hitler or anyone else. As I said before, esp. for people who need to do something big and always be in the spotlight, the Charlie Manson fate of rotting into relative unknownness and oblivion is safe for us and punishment for them. McVeigh got the easy way out, too. For those who say, "a life for a life," I say that's too simplistic and formulaic. He WANTED death ... torture for him would have been to be forgotten over a long, long period of lonely time. BUT WE GAVE HIM WHAT HE WANTED!! No wonder we're not satisfied.
If I wanted to punish my children, I wouldn't do something they
WANT just because
I think it's an "equal" punishment. McVeigh expected a violent reaction and would probably have taken a stoning with a clenched military jaw and no complaints. I don't choose "equal and opposite" or "expected" with my children ... I often find something unrelated that they wanted or expected and then remove it ... something that affects
THEM to an equal degree.
"No ice cream" for my daughter for hitting her younger brother is not equal and opposite, like hitting her back with roughly the same force might be. If I did that, I'd be teaching her, "when you don't like something, hit." Not only is it barbaric, but it has the opposite affect. (sounds familiar) "No ice cream" sounds wimpy payment for hurting someone, but if you knew just how much she
LOVES ice cream, you'd see how hard that really hits her and how it is a "just" punishment, and an actual deterrent.
I also agree with
Mr. Bond on the purposes of such discussion. I don't expect to convert anyone, either. But I don't get to exchange so openly like this in the real world without affecting my relations with people who can directly impact my life. When I exchange
<u>I</u> learn and grow, both by hearing others and by examining my own reasoning. I get great practice at understanding and allowing "the other half" to live that way without making them out to be "the bad guys" and I get opportunities to organize & state my beliefs somewhere outside my own head. It gells more, and opens itself for more scrutiny, when you have to speak it outloud as opposed to just thinking about it.
Sloww: Tim McVeigh himself requested his ashes be scattered in a secret location so no one, neither those who loved or hated him, could visit that spot.
Spiff
