Thoughts on the People's Street Reactions - Peterson Verdict [View All]

[Zomby Woof]

Normally, I would avoid posting any thread of this nature, because of the lurid sensationalism involved, the endless media circus surrounding it, and what have you.

But something got to me today that reaffirmed some of my worst hunches about the latter-day triumph of humanity's reptilian core.

It's easy to say, as with most capital murder cases, that the perpetrator is vile scum, deserves his fate, and strictly undeserving of our sympathy or any modicum of good will.

I won't argue that. He IS scum. He DOES deserve scorn and unyielding contempt and bottomless condemnation. He represents the worst the species has to offer. What's to defend when it comes to the monstrous reptile at HIS core?

But.

The cheering.

The elation.

Does dancing in the streets for the impending death of a monster reaffirm our humanity and basic goodness, as these happy minions would like to believe?

Or does cheering the death sentence bring us one step closer to his deep, dark level of reveling in the debasement of another's life, even the life of a sickly scumbag?

Do we deny our own humanity as an emotional trade-off for welcoming the fate he gets for denying another human being hers? Or do we celebrate an illusion of superiority?

I do not claim to fall on one side or the other so easily.

If I were Laci's brother or father or uncle... I can't say I wouldn't want Scott Peterson to die at my own hand. I can't deny I may very well dance on his grave.

I can't deny a sliver of empathy for the cheering throngs.

But I also can't deny something stuck in my craw with those happy, laughing, exultant people, and made me deeply ill-at-ease in my soul.

I am not sure we can make that trade-off with our humanity fully successful, to satisfy a lust for vengeance that will exact a greater price than we can pay. The trade-off shortchanges us every time.

I am not sure.

But it sure as hell made me wonder about the state of humanity and the spiritual health of America's rank-and-file 'upstanding' citizens.

And it made me wonder just how far removed from a beast like Scott Peterson they, and we, truly are.

I am not sure.