Heroes live, cowards die : comments.
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![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Thing is, I know I'm right. I know people who are violent by nature, held in check only by fear of imprisonment or death. If you don't know people like that, then you are fortunate and possibly sheltered. If you are a pacifist, then I hope that the police, myself and my fellow soldiers are able to afford you the luxury of never having to face violence. If we fail in that, then I hope you've the courage of your convictions, because they will be pressed unto death.
(no subject)
Ralph, It's Ben's LJ, man. He's allowed to go rant without first verifying Ron's meaning.
General: In a perfect world, violence would be abhorrent. But so long as there exist men who will do violence for less than noble causes, violence will remain a necessary and vital tool to protect and promote peaceful society. It should not always be the first resort, but likewise sometimes it should be, even must be.
Ron's comments: I gives a damn about. I haven't bothered reading the spawning discussion, my responses are purely based on things said in this thread. For the record however, I agree with what Ron said in general terms, and say that it was either unfortunately phrased, or deliberately phrased to be inflammatory, and I can't blame anyone for reacting badly; But I can and do hold people responsible for holding views I feel to be wrongheaded, just as I would expect any decent human being to do.
(no subject)
(no subject)
I am not ready to make the judgment of a person I know, "this person is violent by nature, held in check only by fear of imprisonment or death." There may well be people who I do not trust not to be violent, and around whom I would desire some kind of protection. There are definitely people my wife knows or knows of (she's a social worker and deals with mentally ill people all day and has come into some dangerous situations) whom I would not trust not to be violent. I'm not going to go a step further and say they're "violent by nature" and decide that the reason they're not violent at any given moment is fear of punishment. I do not know that to be true.
I don't think that I would trust fear of retaliation to protect me from a person whom I feared would be violent. Fear isn't very good at restraining people, as far as I can tell. I'd much rather remove myself from the presence of someone whom I did not trust not to kill me than rely on his fear of punishment or retaliation to protect me.
I think there are people whom we know of no better way to restrain from violence than by force, and I'm quite happy to have that force used as a last resort. I'm *glad* when serial killers, child molesters, whatever, end up in prison. I do not know a better way to protect people from them. I wish I did, but better to use force than nothing.
But restraint by force is not the same thing as threat of punishment. I accept the former when we cannot think of any better option (though I'd prefer we try to think of better options). I am not convinced threat of punishment actually works.
Those are just the way I see things right now -- I may have changed my mind in a year's or a decade's time. It happens. But that's the way things look to me right now.