Jun 21st, 2003, 05:24 AM
All the arguments are valid, and through and through, even after hearing all of them, I still find myself pro-death penalty.
I look at it this way.
Even without the benefit of being religious, I find life to be sacred. In fact, the afterlife is even scarier if you DON'T have a religion. Think about it... would you rather spend an eternity in Hell, or simply NOT EXIST? Body in the ground, that's it? The way I look at it, the thought of nonexistance is far more frightening than Hell. You may be suffering, but at least you EXIST.
With that in mind, if someone is more than willing to put someone into this kind of situation, they should be ready to pay for it with their lives. From a certain way of looking at it (not personal opinion, btw) it's almost like condemning one form of murder while condoning another.
What you're saying fundamentally, in this scenario, is that for taking the most precious of gifts from someone, you shouldn't have to forfeit your own. That would make the very LAW hypocritical, after all, if you steal something else, do you not lose a priviledge (FREEDOM... you're going to Pound Me In The Ass Prison) as a consequence?
I can see where in certain cases, the imminent coming of death still would not be a deterrent, and I'd like to get into the string of thought that brings up (my support of euthanasia... if you want to die, you should be allowed to) but that's not the point.
My point is... bear with me...
Hypothetically speaking, if some super country came out of nowhere, started obliterating US civilians, businesses, and the like, and threatened our freedom and our very lives and ways of life, we would more than throw our support into the government in the form of tax money to go straight to the army to kill off the murderous menace.
If it happens on a much smaller scale though, and Buffalo Bill kills little Susie Jenkins or something, it's suddenly immoral to put HIM to death, although fundamentally, it's the same thing.
THAT is why I support the death penalty. I hope it makes sense, it IS 5 in the morning and I haven't slept since I got off work :/
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