Week of 14 April to 20 April 2013: Massachusetts, Texas, and related

[CelestialBlade]

Well, related to the discussion, they reportedly have the second suspect in custody.

[gigawuts]

That's the best news we could've possibly heard.

The guy is so young, I'm not sure if I want him to be completely in it or brainwashed by his older sibling...if he was completely in it that's not good, but if he was brainwashed by his older sibling he'll come to his senses some time in the future, realize what he's done, then still get his punishment, and that's not good either.

But I guess any good outcome for anyone vanished as soon as the first bomb went off, didn't it.

I still think this is better than him winding up dead. With some answers maybe something can be figured out. Wouldn't it just be great if he just came out and said "the news gave us the idea."

[Enforcer MKV]

That's the best news we could've possibly heard.

The guy is so young, I'm not sure if I want him to be completely in it or brainwashed by his older sibling...if he was completely in it that's not good, but if he was brainwashed by his older sibling he'll come to his senses some time in the future, realize what he's done, then still get his punishment, and that's not good either.

But I guess any good outcome for anyone vanished as soon as the first bomb went off, didn't it.

I still think this is better than him winding up dead. With some answers maybe something can be figured out. Wouldn't it just be great if he just came out and said "the news gave us the idea."

I'm just glad the guy isn't dead. At least this way, we have the chance to understand why he and his brother did it, and maybe learn from it.

Too many people are just content to demand his execution...

I really hope they don't get what they want.

[Sinue_v2]

Too many people are just content to demand his execution...

I really hope they don't get what they want.

Yeah, because more death is always the best solution to these kinds of problems, amirite?

Call it trolling if you want, but shortly after the Newtown shooting I went around various forums on the internet and asked an apparently inflamitory question to certain parties. Could you... would you, forgive Adam Lanza for what he's done? I didn't get many positive reponses, and only a handful of lipservice-through-teeth-gritted-in-hatred affirmations. Most seemed to relish the idea that he was dead and would be burning in hell for eternity.

Perhaps the question should be raised here as well. Justice will be served; I'm not talking talking about letting him off the hook or anything. But how many of us here could truly forgive the Boston Marathon bombers for their actions? I know it's not our place, nor right, to forgive... the only ones who can truly do that are the victims themselves... some of whom will never get that oppertunity. But for our small part in this, as a member of a society at large which was damaged in these attacks, could we forgive them? Could you pity them, rather than hate them? Could you show them mercy?

Hatred, even justified, is an ugly baggage to carry around. It is an oppressive weight to bear in the places where you want to be traveling light. Or so I think Wolverine once said.

[gigawuts]

Being that the dead one was the older brother (and older brothers can have a significant influence on their younger siblings), the kid is only 19, he hid in a boat and didn't kill any more people, well.

If society wants, it can scapegoat the dead brother, who this guy killed in his getaway attempt.

Forgiveness is possible, but easier if the blame is just shifted elsewhere.

[.Rusty.]

What kind of forgiveness do you want him to get?

[Sinue_v2]

What kind of forgiveness do you want him to get?

It's not about what I want him to get. I'm just asking, I guess for on a personal level, could you forgive them? If you feel you're too far removed from the tragedy to have any personal stake in it, then just imagine that you did. What if it was a family member of yours that was killed? A child, a spouce, or a parent. Do you think you could forgive them of your own suffering?

Again, I don't mean letting them off the hook in any sort of legal context. Even if there weren't a component of satisfactorily seeing justice done... laws and their concequence for breaking them serve a role as a deterent against other crimes being commited, and it only work if those concequences are seen through. But even as the gears of the legal machine grind ever onwards, that doesn't mean we can't look in on the process with human eyes and human compassion.

[.Rusty.]

Regardless of motivations he did walk into a crowd of people and put a bomb on the floor. That's pretty much a point of no return situation.

Kinda hard to do the forgiveness and compassion thing for someone who is willing to do something like that

[RenzokukenZ]

Kinda hard to do the forgiveness and compassion thing for someone who is willing to do something like that

That's the key word right there. This person had complete control of his actions, and knew what would happen from those actions, so his guilt goes beyond the law. Regardless of whether his actions were influenced via force or persuasion, he still went along with it. To forgive him for willingly going through with something this devastating is almost insulting, even for those who believe in 'turning the other cheek'.

That's probably why not that many people are willing to forgive in general. Whether it's from peer pressure, outside influence, a chain of command, an oath, etc, at the end of the day, the act was done out of free will, and forgiveness is a moot concept at that point.