I like to laugh. I see humor in most everything. Most people meet me and assume because of my wicked sense of humor I must have lived a charmed life.
Nope.
As I have mentioned before, two members of my immediate family were taken by violence and that does not leave you a lot to laugh about. My family was really poor and I survived more than one brush with death growing up where I did. Not the kind of life story that makes for a giggle fest.
The reason for my mostly cheerful outlook on life is my mom. If you think I’m funny (and you certainly won’t after this article), if you have read any of my other stuff and thought I was funny, then you should meet my mother. She is freakin hilarious. My mom had a lot more to deal with than me and she dealt with it with good humor and was confident that she would not just survive but flourish, and she did.
As stated above I like to laugh and do find humor in most every thing except violence and cruelty.
I am not a behaviorist, anthropologist or psychiatrist. I do not claim to understand the effects of environment, religion, tribal history, poverty or anything else that that affects human behavior. I know that there are reasons why people do things. I know that there are sometimes societal reasons why people hurt other people.
You know what? I don’t care anymore.
I hear a lot of reasons on the nightly news explaining why some people commit horrible brutal deeds against other people.
I don’t care what the reasons are anymore. I just don’t care.
I read a news report so atrocious the other day that it took away any remaining tolerance I may have had left. The story was about these “rape and murder” squads in Africa. These roving bands of thugs are going from village to village raping and killing DEFENSELESS women. All in the name of some “cause” or another.
Whenever I hear things like this it takes me right back to the pain I feel over my loss, and I hear these things… all… the… time.
There are many such horrific events happening all over the world. I know there are reasons behind these acts but I don’t care. If you are committing these kinds of acts on defenseless people in the name of some “cause,” you are an animal.
I don’t care if you are a soldier in an army in Africa, from a royal family in the Middle East, or a gang member in Brooklyn. You are an animal.
I don’t care how you were raised, where you are from, what happened to you in your life or what you believe in. If you attack, rape or murder defenseless people for the sake of some “right” be it you think you are right or believe it’s your birthright or got mad making a right turn on a city street, any unprovoked violence act make you an animal.
And I hate you.
I think that we should stop asking “why” stop looking for “reasons” and just stomp the life out of each and every one of you.
I believe there is real evil in the world and those people who commit acts of violence should just be destroyed.
I watch the looks on the faces of some of these creeps when they are caught. There is always a look of distain or anger on their faces. Perhaps that look is a reflection of their inner struggle, inner turmoil, and inner pain. You know what? I don’t care. You know what else?
I hate them.
I have an idea. Let’s forget due process just once. Let’s forget why people do what they do. Let’s go to Africa and blow away some rapists. Let’s go to Brooklyn and violate some thug’s civil rights. Let’s nuke a royal family palace until they get that they don’t rule the world or make the rules.
I’m mad as hell.
Mad and sick of these animals that walk among us.
I could give a darn about their rights or their reasons. They are evil, cruel and should be put to death slowly and with malice. Don’t give me the “We are better than that” crap. I would much prefer to be an immature member of society with my sister alive than be an mature citizen and her dead.
Some people are just evil. Evil. Evil.
EVIL.
When I was a kid in grade school this other kid used to routinely pick on me and kick my ass. My teacher would tell me to not “stoop” to his level. This kid was huge and there was no way I could beat him in a fair fight anyway, so why try?
One day my mother came in my room and caught me crying. She asked what was wrong and I told her that Ronnie Williams had beaten me up again. She told me to defend my self and hit him back. I told her that my teacher, Mrs. Rabinow told me not to stoop to his level. That’s all the excuse I needed. I did not want to fight. My mother said “It’s not Mrs. Rabinow who is getting her ass kicked. You stoop to his level beat him with something then come back to your level.” I told her how big he was to which she responded “I said, beat him with something. Pick something up and hit him back.”
The next day like clockwork Ronnie punched me in the back for no other reason except he was an evil little bastard with no home training. I waited until he turned his back, picked up a chair and slammed it into his head as hard as I could.
Never again did that evil MF bother me again.
It’s time we pick up a chair on these evil people who commit acts of violence against defenseless people.
These evil people rob us of everything, strip us of our security and take from our children their innocence. Worst of all they take away our laughter.
And I like to laugh.
You know what would make me laugh? Another war on terror. A war on all other sick animals that commit senseless violence on innocent people the world over. I don’t care if they are members of Al-Queda, or the guy next door.
Just once I would like to see these sick bastards punished not just to the full extent of the law but also to the full extent of our outrage.
Let’s do to them what they have done to their victims.
That would make me laugh. That would crack me the hell up.
Michael Davis is a comics creator and the founder of the Guardian Line series of comics as well as being a television producer and writer. He was a co-founder of Milestone Comics and his artwork has appeared in Wasteland, Green Arrow: Shado, Green Hornet and The Question, among others.
I agree with and understand your feelings, but there are only two problems with your goal of abandoning due process and destroying evildoers. The less important one is the near certainty of retaliation. One can plan for and accept that risk, find it completely acceptable and go ahead with those satisfying plans of smashing skulls. The more important and difficult problem of abandoning due process is that one can be mistaken about just who the evildoers are. If you kill the wrong person, his survivors will feel exactly as you did, despise you as you did the deceased, plot your demise just as you did, and feel just swell about killing you in the most satisfying manner. As wicked as the rape and murder squads are (very wicked indeed), it is almost certain their members feel sure their enemies did something so terrible as to have earned their abuse – just as you exult at the prospect of throwing away the civil rights of these monsters.It's a lot of fun thinking about the terrible things we would do to people we think are deserving of it, and I know without a doubt that I would be happy to do such things to anyone who hurt those I love. I also know what a terrible world it would be if everyone else felt free to mutilate whomever they please.
Personally — and understandably — I agree with what you say, Jeffrey. The sad part is, as much as I agree with you I have more faith in personal and justifiable vengeance than I do with the local judicial bureaucracies. Not the police necessarily, but certainly the politically-driven prosecutors and the overall bureaucracy under which they operate.
Jeffrey, I UNDERSTAND your point and I respect it. However would you give a rabid dog due process if you KNEW the dog was crazy and biting people? In my piece I said "Let’s forget due process just once." Let's assume you caught a murdering rapist on video tape who admitted it was a 'trill kill' -Why waste due process on this animal? Clearly how we handle these crimes don't work. Just ONCE let's try something different. What's the harm? It's not like we are starting a war with no proof. We are simply dealing with an animal that needs to be put down.
My desires would be exactly the same as yours. My actions would probably also be the same. I'm just cautious about the wisdom of institutionalizing extra-legal revenge. Taking the circumstances surrounding such an action as mitigation or explanation seems much wiser than specifically authorizing vigilantism. "Oh, well…the court understands the pressure Mr. Davis was under…and COME ON, Mr. Ima Multipedophile had JUST…..Well, case dismissed."I don't want to seem sanctimonious (although I am) – Under the right circumstances, catching a murdering rapist and so on, I am sure I would want to disembowel the SOB. I'm leery of institutionalizing vigilantism, but then that really isn't what you were writing about.
Wrong analogy. Rabies are acquired accidentally and dogs that bite almost always do it because of their training.We use due process on everybody because we're so damn often wrong. Ever hear of the Norfolk Four?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti…
RIGHT analogy. If a human being acts like an animal then they should be afforded nothing more than the treatment of an animal. The only difference is that the human knows what is right and wrong.
I often feel the same way you do, Michael. Both Mikes, actually. BUTI also remember a story I think the three of us did in WASTELAND. I wrote my vision of what was inevitably going to happen in Soth Africa. This was still the OLD South Africa, the apartheid Soth Afirca. The story ended bleakly. Violence was inevitable, I thought, and that it might spill out to the world as well.It didn't happen. Despite all the evil done there, South Africa found a way out without violence. I watched as Desmond Tutu and others presided over Courts of Reconciliation where the evil was confronted but so was humanity. Something I wish we would do in this country about our past. I was never so glad in my lie to be wrong as I was about South Africa.I think anger is often an appropriate response to things that happen in this world. And, yes, sometimes violence is as well. I also think it affects everyone who uses it — even in good causes. I think it is ultimately addictive. And, like most addictions, it consumers the user.Powerful column, Michael. Thought provoking as well. Thanks for writing it.
Had a "Ronnie Williams" of my own, back in grammar school — a bully-for-the-hell-of-it who pushed a bunch of us smaller kids too far, finally, and found himself in for a massed retaliation after the Powers That Did Be (the schoolteachers and the Principal His Ownself) had refused to attempt so much as a reprimand. The bully appeared to develop a more civilized demeanor, although I lost touch with him after he had flunked Sixth Grade twice.An earlier such schoolyard terror belonged officially to the "Special Education" grades but mingled freely with the general run of students, chiefly for the purpose of whupping up on 'em at recess. When caught in the act by this or that teacher, the kid had a ready reply: "You can't spank me! I'm re-TOR-ded!" Smart. Sometimes, the best offense is a good prefabricated defense.Went many years without experiencing suchlike again, until the arrival in fairly recent times of a burlier-than-thou newspaper colleague (term used advisedly) who responded to news-judgment disagreements with threats of violence. Went the due-process route with this thug after a staircase-shoving incident, with a complaint to Human Resources and the result of absolutely no action beyond a cautious reprimand — which brought about an empty apology. As a consequence, this schoolyard-bully-grown-up learned to retrench to subtler acts of treachery. Perhaps a stairway fall of his own would have taught him better than to act like a Neanderthal. Subhuman, indeed, and so dedicated to thuggish misconduct as to learn less blatant methods.I believe a lot of us in the storytelling racket enjoy spinning the vigilante yarns as a safe-distance theoreticable response to such Real World viciousness. When Tim Truman and I were writing the original run of PROWLER stories — speaking of vigilantism — we'd run up against the occasional objection that "the bad guy has to shoot first!" Uhm, no, actually, we're not dealing in role-model stories, here.Anbody out there seen THE BRAVE ONE, the recent Jodie Foster picture? A great deal of wish-fulfillment, here — or DEATH WISH-fulfillment, maybe.
I didn't go to school until high school so my situation happend at work, when I was in my late-20s. One of the VPs had twice groped me in public (I was the only woman on the professional staff) but the third time he did it, we were the only people in an elevator. I broke his ribs and foot (although I'd been aiming my elbow at his stomach — I forgot he was so short) and he fell over. I got off at my floor and pushed for Lobby where there was a guard. He called in sick the next day saying he'd tripped over his pit bull and fallen down the stairs.I still feel comfortable with this. If someone threatened me with harm, I would harm them in defense. But threatening vague groups of people whom I don't know? No. Because I don't know.
I think one of the worst things about evil people is that they bring out evil impulses in otherwise good people. It is my continued hope that these otherwise good people (like you, Michael) don't give into their evil impulses. You do that and you've blurred the line between good and evil probably irrevocably.
Trust me Elayne-I have been tempted. But the last thing I want to do is end up in 'the system' as a black man. Yale,P.h.D. the school named after me, etc., would not mean a damn thing if I'm arrested for doing something stupid. Also I may not have it in me to just go out and do a 'Bat-Man on someone. However, I am a member of the N.R.A because of what happened to my family (and I'm liberal so I must need therapy) and if someone broke into my home (assuming they get though the pit bull) I don't think I would hesitate to blow them away.
Trust me Elayne-I have been tempted. But the last thing I want to do is end up in 'the system' as a black man. Yale,P.h.D. the school named after me, etc., would not mean a damn thing if I'm arrested for doing something stupid. Also I may not have it in me to just go out and do a 'Bat-Man on someone. However, I am a member of the N.R.A because of what happened to my family (and I'm liberal so I must need therapy) and if someone broke into my home (assuming they get though the pit bull) I don't think I would hesitate to blow them away.
To refine my previous comments a bit, I am very sympathetic to Michael Davis's impulses, and completely confident that given sufficient provocation I would want to commit disgusting atrocities on deserving victims. Not only that, I would make every effort to avoid punishment for doing so. The problem is that I know my own judgment is imperfect, and believe many others' judgment is far worse. Human character would have to be much better than it is for making private vengeance permissible to not be very destabilizing toward society. It's self-contradictory to oppose the legality of extra-legal vengeance and yet admit one would pursue it nonetheless – but that's better than the return of the blood feud. Those who insist on extra-legal vengeance would necessarily set themselves outside of law and society – becoming outlaws. When society is sufficiently corrupt or ineffectual such outlawry is both unavoidable and desirable, as folk heroes both real and fictional have demonstrated for millennia; I am simply unconvinced modern society is quite so far gone that the exception should outweigh the rule.
Figuring out why bad people do bad things is not excusing their actions. It's finding out why it happens so that — maybe — it can be prevented the next time.
That's not true. There are all kinds of mental health experts who have learned from the experience of others, and know how to help people in danger of acting out. It doesn't work all the time, and sometimes these damaged, violent people never get in the system to get help, but it helps more than it used to. It's nearly impossible to prove a negative — to show the crimes that didn't get committed — but I know it happens. Rabbi Gold can probably also testify.
My mom is a 'mental health expert' she says that sometimes people are just evil. And she has the degrees to back that up. She also has a murdered mother and daughter to underscore what her degrees won't. I do agree that there are people who are helped. Good for them and their doctors. I'm talking about EVIL people. Just because someone enjoys killing does not necessarily make them insane. It makes them evil.
I posted a comment (twice) that was in response to Elanye's. Both time they ended up a response to Martha. So no Martha-I did not just call you by another woman's name. ;)
Every time a (to your eyes) blatantly guilty person gets off scott free, it makes a lot of people want to take up arms and do what the courts couldn't. And sometimes the same people who throw roadblock after roadblock in the way of making sure the blatantly guilty are given "every chance", and eventually find a technicality that gets them off, they also spend a massive amount of time on people who have ALREADY been found guilty, insisting on retrial after retrial, and stay after stay of execution. It's no surprise that people think the system Needs Changing.But for every time we hear about the system not working, there are hundreds of times across the country that it works just fine. They just don't make the papers. Hundreds of sneaker-thieves get sent to juvie, who knows how many pedophiles get sent to jail, or therapy or whatever. But of course "1,800 planes landed safely" is not a news item, "1 Plane crashes" is.Any attempt to change the justice system because one case didn't meet our desires will result in a system so chaotic and filled with codicils and amendments as to render no one able to understand it, let alone get justice from it. We already have the perilously close to double jeapordy scenario where if one court doesn't get a conviction, a higher court can bring the same person back for the nebulous crime of "infringing on civil rights" to make SURE the people get the conviction that they want. I really don't want to see it get any more close than that.And for all the vitriol you have against murderers and child abusers (and rightly so), there are people out there with the exact same amount of hatred for gun manufacturers, whale fisherman and people who don't signal when changing lanes. So once we decide it's okay to kneecap a couple wanna-be John Wayne Gacys, how do we successfully convince the next guy we shouldn't pop one in the guy who cheats on his taxes so HE has to pay more?Captain Samuel Vimes puts it best in the Discworld books. He knows it will make things easier if he would break the rules once in a while. But he knows that if you break the rules for a good reason, it makes it all the easier to break them again for a bad reason.
There is always so much that is attached to my very simple point of view and that is a big part of the problem as I see it. We talk and talk and talk about a problem until the problem is not the issue it's the REASON behind the problem that's the issue. So let me be very VERY clear. I would not shed a tear and I WOULD find it very satisfying to do to a monster what they did to their victims. If someone is evil and we KNOW he is evil why should they be afforded any other 'due process' after he is found guilty? As I have said in my piece I simply do not care anymore. I'm sure that there are a lot of Americans who feel the same way. Maybe we should put 'Cruel and Unusual punishment' on a ballot.
Due to the writer's strike, CBS is showing it on Sundays. Last Sunday was the first ep (with some blurring and such because it was originally on Showtime) and I'm willing to watch another ep, at least.
It's a bit after 8pm on the West Coast where I am. I have enjoyed (if that's the right word) the day long dialog on this column and have respect for all who have contributed. That said I just watched a report on CNN-there is a serial killer and rapist in Boca Raton who just shot a mother and her VERY YOUNG (no older than 9 I did not catch the age but I'm staring at her picture frozen on my TV screen.) he just shot them both dead. One shot in the head for each because the mother dared to try and protect her child. Regardless of the many points made here, and there were some good ones, I am standing behind my original statement:I don’t care how you were raised, where you are from, what happened to you in your life or what you believe in. If you attack, rape or murder defenseless people for the sake of some “right” be it you think you are right or believe it’s your birthright or got mad making a right turn on a city street, any unprovoked violence act make you an animal. This goddamn animal deserves nothing but death by the worst pain you can think of. If there is ANYONE who thinks otherwise then I respect your opinion but I don't care what you think. I want this guy and others like him to suffer and die.This is my last post on this subject. I'm done.
You can respect someone's right to an opinion, but not care for what they say. That's democracy! And frankly Michael puts himself out there in his column, and the fact that he respects people who don't share his beliefs is commendable considering how rare it is.
Here are his exact words, "If there is ANYONE who thinks otherwise then I respect your opinion but I don't care what you think."He is stating clear as day his respect to your opinion, but care less how you say it. He's basically saying he doesn't care for your position but respects your right to have that opinion.
Anonymous, why don't you sign in?There's a different between respecting an opinion and respecting your right to have that opinion. He said the former, and you can't not-care what someone thinks and still respect their opinion.
I agree with and understand your feelings, but there are only two problems with your goal of abandoning due process and destroying evildoers. The less important one is the near certainty of retaliation. One can plan for and accept that risk, find it completely acceptable and go ahead with those satisfying plans of smashing skulls. The more important and difficult problem of abandoning due process is that one can be mistaken about just who the evildoers are. If you kill the wrong person, his survivors will feel exactly as you did, despise you as you did the deceased, plot your demise just as you did, and feel just swell about killing you in the most satisfying manner. As wicked as the rape and murder squads are (very wicked indeed), it is almost certain their members feel sure their enemies did something so terrible as to have earned their abuse – just as you exult at the prospect of throwing away the civil rights of these monsters.It's a lot of fun thinking about the terrible things we would do to people we think are deserving of it, and I know without a doubt that I would be happy to do such things to anyone who hurt those I love. I also know what a terrible world it would be if everyone else felt free to mutilate whomever they please.
Personally — and understandably — I agree with what you say, Jeffrey. The sad part is, as much as I agree with you I have more faith in personal and justifiable vengeance than I do with the local judicial bureaucracies. Not the police necessarily, but certainly the politically-driven prosecutors and the overall bureaucracy under which they operate.
Jeffrey, I UNDERSTAND your point and I respect it. However would you give a rabid dog due process if you KNEW the dog was crazy and biting people? In my piece I said "Let’s forget due process just once." Let's assume you caught a murdering rapist on video tape who admitted it was a 'trill kill' -Why waste due process on this animal? Clearly how we handle these crimes don't work. Just ONCE let's try something different. What's the harm? It's not like we are starting a war with no proof. We are simply dealing with an animal that needs to be put down.
My desires would be exactly the same as yours. My actions would probably also be the same. I'm just cautious about the wisdom of institutionalizing extra-legal revenge. Taking the circumstances surrounding such an action as mitigation or explanation seems much wiser than specifically authorizing vigilantism. "Oh, well…the court understands the pressure Mr. Davis was under…and COME ON, Mr. Ima Multipedophile had JUST…..Well, case dismissed."I don't want to seem sanctimonious (although I am) – Under the right circumstances, catching a murdering rapist and so on, I am sure I would want to disembowel the SOB. I'm leery of institutionalizing vigilantism, but then that really isn't what you were writing about.
Wrong analogy. Rabies are acquired accidentally and dogs that bite almost always do it because of their training.We use due process on everybody because we're so damn often wrong. Ever hear of the Norfolk Four?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti…
RIGHT analogy. If a human being acts like an animal then they should be afforded nothing more than the treatment of an animal. The only difference is that the human knows what is right and wrong.
Michael, that analogy is making the dog like someone with a mental illness. And yes, we give them due process.
Again, I am not talking about anyone with mental illness. I'm talking about EVIL. I
Rabid dogs aren't evil, they're sick.
I'm talking about EVIL people.
We were talking about the analogy of a rabid dog to evil people.
I like dogs. It's evil idiots I don't care for.
I often feel the same way you do, Michael. Both Mikes, actually. BUTI also remember a story I think the three of us did in WASTELAND. I wrote my vision of what was inevitably going to happen in Soth Africa. This was still the OLD South Africa, the apartheid Soth Afirca. The story ended bleakly. Violence was inevitable, I thought, and that it might spill out to the world as well.It didn't happen. Despite all the evil done there, South Africa found a way out without violence. I watched as Desmond Tutu and others presided over Courts of Reconciliation where the evil was confronted but so was humanity. Something I wish we would do in this country about our past. I was never so glad in my lie to be wrong as I was about South Africa.I think anger is often an appropriate response to things that happen in this world. And, yes, sometimes violence is as well. I also think it affects everyone who uses it — even in good causes. I think it is ultimately addictive. And, like most addictions, it consumers the user.Powerful column, Michael. Thought provoking as well. Thanks for writing it.
I remember that story. That was a great time in my life working with you and Mike on that.
Had a "Ronnie Williams" of my own, back in grammar school — a bully-for-the-hell-of-it who pushed a bunch of us smaller kids too far, finally, and found himself in for a massed retaliation after the Powers That Did Be (the schoolteachers and the Principal His Ownself) had refused to attempt so much as a reprimand. The bully appeared to develop a more civilized demeanor, although I lost touch with him after he had flunked Sixth Grade twice.An earlier such schoolyard terror belonged officially to the "Special Education" grades but mingled freely with the general run of students, chiefly for the purpose of whupping up on 'em at recess. When caught in the act by this or that teacher, the kid had a ready reply: "You can't spank me! I'm re-TOR-ded!" Smart. Sometimes, the best offense is a good prefabricated defense.Went many years without experiencing suchlike again, until the arrival in fairly recent times of a burlier-than-thou newspaper colleague (term used advisedly) who responded to news-judgment disagreements with threats of violence. Went the due-process route with this thug after a staircase-shoving incident, with a complaint to Human Resources and the result of absolutely no action beyond a cautious reprimand — which brought about an empty apology. As a consequence, this schoolyard-bully-grown-up learned to retrench to subtler acts of treachery. Perhaps a stairway fall of his own would have taught him better than to act like a Neanderthal. Subhuman, indeed, and so dedicated to thuggish misconduct as to learn less blatant methods.I believe a lot of us in the storytelling racket enjoy spinning the vigilante yarns as a safe-distance theoreticable response to such Real World viciousness. When Tim Truman and I were writing the original run of PROWLER stories — speaking of vigilantism — we'd run up against the occasional objection that "the bad guy has to shoot first!" Uhm, no, actually, we're not dealing in role-model stories, here.Anbody out there seen THE BRAVE ONE, the recent Jodie Foster picture? A great deal of wish-fulfillment, here — or DEATH WISH-fulfillment, maybe.
Michael,If a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound? If a bully is pushed down a flight of stairs and no one sees it-was he pushed?
I didn't go to school until high school so my situation happend at work, when I was in my late-20s. One of the VPs had twice groped me in public (I was the only woman on the professional staff) but the third time he did it, we were the only people in an elevator. I broke his ribs and foot (although I'd been aiming my elbow at his stomach — I forgot he was so short) and he fell over. I got off at my floor and pushed for Lobby where there was a guard. He called in sick the next day saying he'd tripped over his pit bull and fallen down the stairs.I still feel comfortable with this. If someone threatened me with harm, I would harm them in defense. But threatening vague groups of people whom I don't know? No. Because I don't know.
Urm, I was replyhing to Michael Price's post. Something is up with the hierarchy.
I think one of the worst things about evil people is that they bring out evil impulses in otherwise good people. It is my continued hope that these otherwise good people (like you, Michael) don't give into their evil impulses. You do that and you've blurred the line between good and evil probably irrevocably.
Trust me Elayne-I have been tempted. But the last thing I want to do is end up in 'the system' as a black man. Yale,P.h.D. the school named after me, etc., would not mean a damn thing if I'm arrested for doing something stupid. Also I may not have it in me to just go out and do a 'Bat-Man on someone. However, I am a member of the N.R.A because of what happened to my family (and I'm liberal so I must need therapy) and if someone broke into my home (assuming they get though the pit bull) I don't think I would hesitate to blow them away.
Trust me Elayne-I have been tempted. But the last thing I want to do is end up in 'the system' as a black man. Yale,P.h.D. the school named after me, etc., would not mean a damn thing if I'm arrested for doing something stupid. Also I may not have it in me to just go out and do a 'Bat-Man on someone. However, I am a member of the N.R.A because of what happened to my family (and I'm liberal so I must need therapy) and if someone broke into my home (assuming they get though the pit bull) I don't think I would hesitate to blow them away.
To refine my previous comments a bit, I am very sympathetic to Michael Davis's impulses, and completely confident that given sufficient provocation I would want to commit disgusting atrocities on deserving victims. Not only that, I would make every effort to avoid punishment for doing so. The problem is that I know my own judgment is imperfect, and believe many others' judgment is far worse. Human character would have to be much better than it is for making private vengeance permissible to not be very destabilizing toward society. It's self-contradictory to oppose the legality of extra-legal vengeance and yet admit one would pursue it nonetheless – but that's better than the return of the blood feud. Those who insist on extra-legal vengeance would necessarily set themselves outside of law and society – becoming outlaws. When society is sufficiently corrupt or ineffectual such outlawry is both unavoidable and desirable, as folk heroes both real and fictional have demonstrated for millennia; I am simply unconvinced modern society is quite so far gone that the exception should outweigh the rule.
Figuring out why bad people do bad things is not excusing their actions. It's finding out why it happens so that — maybe — it can be prevented the next time.
But it doe NOT prevent anything and that's my point. That's why I don't care 'why' anymore.
That's not true. There are all kinds of mental health experts who have learned from the experience of others, and know how to help people in danger of acting out. It doesn't work all the time, and sometimes these damaged, violent people never get in the system to get help, but it helps more than it used to. It's nearly impossible to prove a negative — to show the crimes that didn't get committed — but I know it happens. Rabbi Gold can probably also testify.
My mom is a 'mental health expert' she says that sometimes people are just evil. And she has the degrees to back that up. She also has a murdered mother and daughter to underscore what her degrees won't. I do agree that there are people who are helped. Good for them and their doctors. I'm talking about EVIL people. Just because someone enjoys killing does not necessarily make them insane. It makes them evil.
Very intense column, Michael!KUDOS to U and to your mom for what you've become now. And let's all kick the asses of the Ronnie Williams in the world!
I posted a comment (twice) that was in response to Elanye's. Both time they ended up a response to Martha. So no Martha-I did not just call you by another woman's name. ;)
Nor would you ever have occasion to.
No Martha I would not. UNLESS I had to give the name of 2 people I really care about. Then I may get a confused as to who was the coolest.
Every time a (to your eyes) blatantly guilty person gets off scott free, it makes a lot of people want to take up arms and do what the courts couldn't. And sometimes the same people who throw roadblock after roadblock in the way of making sure the blatantly guilty are given "every chance", and eventually find a technicality that gets them off, they also spend a massive amount of time on people who have ALREADY been found guilty, insisting on retrial after retrial, and stay after stay of execution. It's no surprise that people think the system Needs Changing.But for every time we hear about the system not working, there are hundreds of times across the country that it works just fine. They just don't make the papers. Hundreds of sneaker-thieves get sent to juvie, who knows how many pedophiles get sent to jail, or therapy or whatever. But of course "1,800 planes landed safely" is not a news item, "1 Plane crashes" is.Any attempt to change the justice system because one case didn't meet our desires will result in a system so chaotic and filled with codicils and amendments as to render no one able to understand it, let alone get justice from it. We already have the perilously close to double jeapordy scenario where if one court doesn't get a conviction, a higher court can bring the same person back for the nebulous crime of "infringing on civil rights" to make SURE the people get the conviction that they want. I really don't want to see it get any more close than that.And for all the vitriol you have against murderers and child abusers (and rightly so), there are people out there with the exact same amount of hatred for gun manufacturers, whale fisherman and people who don't signal when changing lanes. So once we decide it's okay to kneecap a couple wanna-be John Wayne Gacys, how do we successfully convince the next guy we shouldn't pop one in the guy who cheats on his taxes so HE has to pay more?Captain Samuel Vimes puts it best in the Discworld books. He knows it will make things easier if he would break the rules once in a while. But he knows that if you break the rules for a good reason, it makes it all the easier to break them again for a bad reason.
There is always so much that is attached to my very simple point of view and that is a big part of the problem as I see it. We talk and talk and talk about a problem until the problem is not the issue it's the REASON behind the problem that's the issue. So let me be very VERY clear. I would not shed a tear and I WOULD find it very satisfying to do to a monster what they did to their victims. If someone is evil and we KNOW he is evil why should they be afforded any other 'due process' after he is found guilty? As I have said in my piece I simply do not care anymore. I'm sure that there are a lot of Americans who feel the same way. Maybe we should put 'Cruel and Unusual punishment' on a ballot.
Have you been watching Dexter?
I have never seen that show but there are a zillion people who tell me I should.
Due to the writer's strike, CBS is showing it on Sundays. Last Sunday was the first ep (with some blurring and such because it was originally on Showtime) and I'm willing to watch another ep, at least.
That belonged up one! I already complained to Brian, so I'm posting to note it to the "platform people."
Sometimes violence IS the answer.
'Sometimes violence IS the answer.' That will be my answer Alan, if someone EVER threatens me or my family again. Without a second thought.
It's a bit after 8pm on the West Coast where I am. I have enjoyed (if that's the right word) the day long dialog on this column and have respect for all who have contributed. That said I just watched a report on CNN-there is a serial killer and rapist in Boca Raton who just shot a mother and her VERY YOUNG (no older than 9 I did not catch the age but I'm staring at her picture frozen on my TV screen.) he just shot them both dead. One shot in the head for each because the mother dared to try and protect her child. Regardless of the many points made here, and there were some good ones, I am standing behind my original statement:I don’t care how you were raised, where you are from, what happened to you in your life or what you believe in. If you attack, rape or murder defenseless people for the sake of some “right” be it you think you are right or believe it’s your birthright or got mad making a right turn on a city street, any unprovoked violence act make you an animal. This goddamn animal deserves nothing but death by the worst pain you can think of. If there is ANYONE who thinks otherwise then I respect your opinion but I don't care what you think. I want this guy and others like him to suffer and die.This is my last post on this subject. I'm done.
I'm sorry you're done because I'd like to know how you can respect my opinion but not care what I think.
You can respect someone's right to an opinion, but not care for what they say. That's democracy! And frankly Michael puts himself out there in his column, and the fact that he respects people who don't share his beliefs is commendable considering how rare it is.
That's not what he said. He said he respects our opinions but doesn't care about what we say.
That's exactly what he said.
Here are his exact words, "If there is ANYONE who thinks otherwise then I respect your opinion but I don't care what you think."He is stating clear as day his respect to your opinion, but care less how you say it. He's basically saying he doesn't care for your position but respects your right to have that opinion.
Anonymous, why don't you sign in?There's a different between respecting an opinion and respecting your right to have that opinion. He said the former, and you can't not-care what someone thinks and still respect their opinion.
I think I just found my Presidential candidate. Yeah baby!!!!