I discovered something yesterday that I absolutely loathe about myself . . .

[Bullwinkle925]

I am an effing hypocrite. I oppose the death penalty, yet, there are some people in this country that I wouldn't mind seeing dancing on the end of a rope.

How can this be? I hate that!!

And I despise them for making me feel this way.

Will this get deleted or locked??

Help me get out of this funk and back to my original self - PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


:cry:

[skygazer]

1. We're all hypocrites to one extent or another

None of us is perfect in our moral universe. All we can do is try to be the best and most consistent person we can be, while still recognizing that we're only human - with all the flaws that being human entails.

There is a difference between opposing the institutional death penalty and having strong feelings about particular individuals. That's natural. What we have to try to do is recognize that for what it is - an expression of our frustration about those individuals and not necessarily even a concrete wish for their execution. It's more like that seems to be the only way to rid ourselves of them.

It's hard for thinking and moral people to reconcile those feelings but they are perfectly natural and you are not alone in having them. :hug:

[Bullwinkle925]

2. thanks . . .

it is very difficult to reconcile our inner feelings with our 'intellectual beliefs' - you're right - certain people do seem to be impervious to any kind of action taken against them. i'm totally waiting for the 'perp walk' in the orange jumpsuits. only hope i live long enough to see justice prevail.

:hug:

[libodem]

3. You are not alone

We are living in an alternate universe. This is a very frustrating time to be alive. When society becomes so fucked up, individuals reflect the distress. I feel like a schizophrenic half the time, trying to mind my cognitive dissonance. I wish the administration would all drop dead. I'd throw a party. But in real life I'm not like that. I know better than to think hateful thoughts and wish people ill. Oh, hell, somebody stop me.

[Left Is Write]

4. Nobody is perfect, and I think a lot of us feel as you do.

You aren't a hypocrite, though, unless you begin calling for the deaths of those you feel that way about.

[Orrex]

5. With respect, I believe you're being too hard on yourself

I am entirely opposed to the death penalty. It is, to me, indistinguishable from a calculated, cold blooded revenge-murder, perhaps worse in a way because it's state-sanctioned and because it requires the condemned to rot in a cell while doing nothing but anticipating his or her own death.

The revenge-minded among us (society at large, rather than just DU) say things like "it's no less than they deserve" or "they've surrended their right to live" or "capital punishment is a deterrent to others contemplating the same crime" or the like, but these are always offered as if they were self-evident and undeniable truths. Nonsense.

However, though I reject capital punishment, I nonetheless share your desire to see certain people "dancing on the end of a rope." If someone harmed my family, for instance, I would kill the transgressor with my bare hands, resuscitating him if possible so that I could kill him again.

But the difference between that sentiment and the pro-capital-punishment contingent is that I recognize that my emotion-driven opinion is not a fitting source of legislative or judicial wisdom.

Law is never enacted wisely when it is enacted from emotionalism. One need look no further than the PATRIOT act to see that this is true. Likewise Congress' choice to give Bush the authority to invade Iraq. In both cases, emotionalism was allowed to trump reason and logic, and look where it's gotten us.

So as long as you can restrain your own bloodlust and keep your "dancing on a rope" ideas in the realm of the hypothetical, you're not really being a hypocrite. You're not calling for (or enacting) legislation to achieve that goal, nor are you going on a vigilante hunt to accomplish it.

You are reacting to something with your emotions, just as 6 billion people do all the time. But unless you decree your emotionalism to be a matter of policy, you can still be opposed to capital punishment.

And, as the saying goes, the mere fact that you can ask the question of yourself suggests that you retain a commendable skepticism of your own viewpoint.

[Lisa]

6. I'm just as much of a hypocrite, then ...

I like to believe that I'm supportive of social justice issues, but then sometimes I meet someone who exemplifies all the worst stereotypes -- like a homeless person who spins a sob story about his child's medical bills in order to get money, and spends it on booze and cigarettes. Or an activist who is so keen on promoting environmental, anti-war, feminist, or anti-racist ideas that s/he is vicious and hateful to people who are on the same side. I have to confess that I've had a number of occasions in the past year when I've wanted to haul off and slap someone who is making innocent people feel miserable, just so they can flaunt being "holier than thou". And there's a really nasty serial killer on trial in the city next to mine, who is lucky that Canada hasn't executed anyone since the early 1960s (we finally abolished capital punishment more than 2 decades ago) -- if he were coming for me in a dark alley and I were armed, I wouldn't feel at all guilty if I walked out of there and he didn't.

So I totally sympathize, Bullwinkle. The fact you're worried about this dilemma shows you're a decent person. It's quite reasonable to be angry and resentful about people who are just so against everything you believe about being a human being, that their very presence can make you think thoughts that are out of character.

[Shakespeare]

7. I think all of share that exact feeling, to some extent.

Some folks are just loathe to admit it about themselves. It's human nature--we're hardwired for blood justice, and sometimes for outright revenge. It's whether and how we overcome that impulse that determines what kind of people we are collectively.