glchicks said:
Abandon4093 said:
Justice is never in the hands of the victim.
Too much raw emotion for objectivity.
Revenge is a perfectly understandable desire, that doesn't make it right. I'm not the biggest supporter of our current justice systems, I do think they often fail or are too overburdened by legislation and bureaucracy. But to put the power in the hands of the victim is counter intuitive. 'An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.'
I think it was Gandhi who said that. You know the guy who killed a bunch of people in wars during his youth, the warmongering racist who let his wife die when she could have been saved by penicillin. You know, the one society paints as a saint.
I suppose your going to tell me that Mother Teresa was some sort of paragon of virtue as well. HA
how irrelevant.
"When your mother has grown older,
When her dear, faithful eyes
No longer see life as they once did,
When her feet, grown tired,
No longer want to carry her as she walks,
Then lend her your arm in support, escort her with happy pleasure?
the hour will come when, weeping, you must accompany her on her final walk.
And if she asks you something, then give her an answer.
And if she asks again, then speak!
And if she asks yet again, respond to her, not impatiently, but with gentle calm.
And if she cannot understand you properly, explain all to her happily.
The hour will come, the bitter hour, when her mouth asks for nothing more."
I find that to be a fairly touching quote. Oh wait, Hitler said it, guess it's bullshit.
Justice, as you seem to see it, is an antiquated concept. Revenge begets hatred and suffering, not emotional healing. You talk of "balance" as if there are some kind of magical scales of justice in the universe that demands equitable retaliation to all wrongdoings. A proportionate response to a crime does not necessarily mean exacting that same crime upon someone.
No, that does not mean I feel our current judicial system is perfect or even fully competent. That said, pure revenge is not going to make things better.