xvbones said:
GistoftheFist said:
Forum members say a 15 year old stabbing an attacker 11 times is excessive
Because they do not understand how the human psyche functions under that kind of stress.
They are used to TV, movies and video games where adrenaline and the fight-or-flight reflex pretty much don't exist.
or police shooting a kid with a pellet gun three times is excessive,
Because of the above and also because they did not know that the pellet gun the kid had painted to look like a real gun was not a real gun.
The kid aimed a pellet gun he had painted to look like a real gun at cops, who then defended themselves and the children at that school.
See, we know it was a pellet gun NOW.
Those cops?
All they saw was a kid with a gun in a school.
so was this justified in your eyes?
Completely.
Also agree here.
What bothers me is this mentality espoused by people who lack a certain amount of logical reasoning and propagated by people with the same "rationale." As I'm finding, it's actually a large part of the population.
I'm disturbed simply by people who say "human life is precious" or "sacred" because, most of the time, they're speaking as if it's a universal law as opposed to subjective opinion. There is no intrinsic, objective value on life, let alone
human life. Life is valuable to whom it belongs, but to say
human life is more important than anything else is arrogant and ignorant. People die all of the time. People also die in the most pathetic ways possible. I heard on the radio when coming into work today that some-odd
thousands of people die each year
(in my state) from "prescription drugs" - not "prescription drug
abuse", just "prescription drugs." Why the fuck should I care? Sure, it's terrible for them that they died, but it has virtually no impact on me, besides making it harder to obtain an effective prescription because people refuse to take responsibility for their actions. People die all of the time. Why should I care when it has something to do with a decision
they made?
People throw their lives away for the dumbest reasons. On the other side, life is frequently taken away by nature before someone has a chance to "live" - just go to a children's hospital and see how "objective" the sanctity of life is.
Regarding the OP, the woman was totally justified. The police officer she was speaking with on the phone said as much.
THE POLICE OFFICER SHE WAS SPEAKING WITH ON THE PHONE! That is going over the top in my opinion. She took the time, potentially risking both of their lives, to find out if she could legally shoot an intruder. That's how fucked up this country is - you're so afraid of the punishment for defending yourself that you
won't defend yourself unless given permission by the State. That stinks to high heaven of the purest bullshit.
If someone is
breaking into your house/car/property, you should have complete rights to take care of the situation any way you see fit - within reason. But being held "criminally" accountable for the assault and death of someone breaking into your house is just
completely ridiculous. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a total moron - either completely sheltered or completely ignorant.
I'm tired of this nanny state, bullshit mentality that pushes everyone to rely on the system to resolve everything. "Just call the cops" as if they're some magical, superhero force that resolves all conflict. If recent local news and YouTube videos posted by citizens, police have shown themselves to be
less trustworthy and reliable than they want us to believe. The cops in this state seemed to be more concerned with bringing in state revenue
(via tickets and infractions) than they do actually protecting the populace. Yes I know, generalizing based on a few incidents is terrible - unfortunately, locally, it's not "a few" incidents. How about people learn some "self reliance"?
Also, what is with this "if there was no other way possible, if the houseowner
knew 100% that the assailant had murderous intent and was armed with an equivalent weapon, then it's justified to shoot them -
any other option is not" mindset/opinion?
Are you serious? You want me, and everyone else, to ascertain the threat
in my own home, get to know the intruder, do a complete history to see if mental illness or depression could be an issue
(because everyone deserves compassion, right?), visually and electronically
(and psychically... gotta keep all our options open, right? Have to be 100% sure...!) determining if they have any weapons on them before taking absolutely any action what-so-ever? The amount of stupid it would take for someone to completely believe that as a viable rationale is depressingly large. It's plain ignorant that they can't even imagine being in that woman's position.
With adrenaline running through your system and your mind racing, you're trying to determine what the person at your door in the middle of the night is doing there, how long you have until they get inside, how long then it takes them to notice you, what you should be doing now to prevent that, what you should be doing to eliminate the threat, and what tools you can use to accomplish that. You're not thinking
"I wonder if his father abused him as a child, or if he even had a father... poor soul..." with a slow, rhythmic heartbeat, a calm demeanor, and arms open to embrace the troubled stranger.
Tl;dr - Human life has no inherent, objective sanctity. Eliminate the threat before it eliminates you. Get off your high-horse and trust your instincts.