{"id":1959,"date":"2014-10-25T12:07:58","date_gmt":"2014-10-25T16:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/?p=1959"},"modified":"2014-10-25T12:54:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-25T16:54:34","slug":"facebook-useful-today-more-thoughts-on-capital-punishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/2014\/facebook-useful-today-more-thoughts-on-capital-punishment\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook useful today! More thoughts on capital punishment…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Andrew Beck<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
5 hrs<\/abbr><\/a><\/span> \u00b7 <\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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BAD ARGUMENTS FOR A GOOD IDEA<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been watching more CNN than usual at Planet Fitness these days (No Judgement!). And maybe it’s because of this that I\u2019ve recently found myself disagreeing vocally\u2014sometimes shouting at the TV like Grandpa Simpson on a treadmill\u2014with folks who are supposed to be my political allies. I support the overall causes they\u2019re trying to promote; I just think many of the quick arguments the non-Rupert Murdoch-controlled media put out there to serve these causes are increasingly weak. (NB: The arguments put forth by Fox News I just find ridiculous. Reliably so. In a world of constant flux, one takes a certain comfort in this consistency.)<\/p>\n

And on no issue is this perhaps more the case than capital punishment, which according to an article in The Guardian yesterday, 60% of Americans support: http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/\u2026\/six-10-americans-support-death\u2026<\/a>. I feel more comfortable hanging with the other 40. I am against the death penalty \u2013in my gut I feel it\u2019s not right\u2013but I\u2019ll admit up front that I have a hard time offering clear and compelling arguments for this conviction. What I do know is that some of the usual quips and bumper stickers the Left earnestly trots out on this issue are kind of embarrassingly bad. The big one is the terse \u201ccapital punishment doesn\u2019t deter violent crime,\u201d to which I can only offer the even more terse: \u201cbullshit!\u201d If the moral and physical laws of the universe were wired in such as way so that any person who murdered someone else was instantly struck dead by a thunderbolt (as philosopher Louis Pojman once suggested), I\u2019d bet all the former lightning rods on the Great Plains that the universe would see less murder. And a few more thunderstorms. Capital punishment in the U.S. may fail to deter murder, but that\u2019s because it isn\u2019t applied swiftly and widely enough. Please, let\u2019s grant the pro-cap-punish folks the cogency of their lightning- bolt scenario.<\/p>\n

Another liberal comment I hear repeatedly is that poor people and especially poor people of color in the U.S. are sentenced to death, per capita, at a much higher rate than the rest of us. So, this unfortunate fact suggests that if you\u2019re in poverty and African-American, you frequently get the short end of the stick. Wow. That\u2019s so weird because African-Americans are usually treated so well by the justice system. And hasn\u2019t American-style capitalism been incredibly beneficial to the poor? Sorry for the sarcasm dump, but my question is why draw the line of stopping injustice only at death\u2019s door? I suspect the answer might be that too many of us will tacitly support a system that locks in unfair economic and educational opportunities for a lot of people as long as the state doesn\u2019t have to execute anybody to keep that system in place. When we start actively killing our less fortunate citizens, well off \u201cliberals\u201d finally start to get nervous.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s the fear of wrongful conviction argument. It suggests that it\u2019s better that 10 guilty murderers go free than one innocent person is put to death. I get this but my inner Utilitarian rears his impish head to ask, \u201cReally? 10? What about a 100? What about 1000?\u201d Nobody likes having blood on his hands, but it\u2019s na\u00efve to think we all don\u2019t already. We are indirectly complicit in, say, the deaths caused by the war in Iraq (even if we were personally against the invasion) or even an accident on the interstate. How many lives would be saved if we agreed to an onerous 40 mph national speed limit? I would die from stress on the Jersey Turnpike, but you get my point. That\u2019s what a democracy does to you: it takes away your excuses. Those living under despots can more rightfully claim they\u2019re politically powerless. Recognizing that a representative government is a fallen state means that sometimes innocent people die and that sometimes you and I need to take some of the blame for that.<\/p>\n

Part of the problem with this specific issue is that we don\u2019t do \u201cdeath\u201d well, which is to say that we largely hide from it in fear, keep it at arm\u2019s length, or pretend it will never come for us or our loved ones \u2013 until it does. (Which also partially explains the current Ebola hysteria, not to mention all the distractions of our youth-obsessed culture.) But the larger problem with political discourse more generally is the way we argue, especially online: with glib, pithy remarks and catchy phrases only to be countered by more glib remarks, summed up\u2014if we\u2019re polite\u2014with a joke to defuse all the tension. We don\u2019t seem to be after the difficult truth, only scoring quick points and\u2014if we\u2019re smart\u2014playing nice. It\u2019s only a game, for those of us who can afford it. The use of \u201cwe\u201d and \u201cus\u201d in this paragraph is intentional \u2013 I single out myself along with many other people.<\/p>\n

So what good arguments are there against the death penalty? Well, I\u2019d really (!) like to hear them from anyone who cares to offer them. My own suspicions are that much of this has to do with repair, with creating a less coarse society, with realizing that we\u2019re all a lot more alike (supposed saints and convicted felons) than we think we are, and\u2014yeah\u2014 with forgiveness. The f-word. (Here\u2019s maybe an issue even more difficult to talk about in our larger culture than death.) Although I\u2019m not sure, I suspect that it\u2019s possible that the only viable answer at the end of the day is a religious one. I\u2019m not ready to try to patch that all together here in this post, but I\u2019m thinking about it, turning it over during idle moments. Instead, my purpose here is simply to ask: should we resist making cheap arguments for our larger causes, simply because they seem clever, omit inconvenient information, or let us grandstand on idealistic principles we have no right to take as our own? Maybe once in a while we should try to do the hard work of trying to line up our words with our hearts. David Hume thought all ethical and political arguments really were only the handmaidens to our more basic and overriding emotions: the lyrics of reason to the passionate melodies that truly move us. If that\u2019s true\u2014and I suspect it is, in part\u2014we owe it to our hearts and ourselves to come up with reasons and words that are true to who we are. Otherwise, all we\u2019re doing is trying to ingratiate ourselves with our ideological teammates as we mock the other side. And what could be more safe than that? *High fives all around to everyone who thinks like me!* It seems that we need less tribes and tribal thinking today\u2014in lunch rooms and legislatures, in faculty lounges and on Face Book–and more risky but deep, careful thought about what is true, kind, and just.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll now try not to trip as I step down from my soap box.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

Appreciate the introspection on a tough subject.\u00a0 I’d like to say I can engage without being sensational but I don’t know if I’ll do as well.\u00a0 Here goes anyway.\u00a0 :-)<\/p>\n

I’m not hearing any reason to consider capital punishment a defensible idea.\u00a0 Re: “Capital punishment doesn’t deter crime”, you say bullshit.\u00a0 I’m sure you could slice the stats either way.\u00a0 But if deterring crime is the only goal then the answer is a police state.\u00a0 So that’s just one variable it seems, not the thrust of the issue.<\/p>\n

You say why start at capital punishment when there are deeper social problems that start at birth not death?\u00a0 Again a fair point but again not a reason to support capital punishment.\u00a0 Sure let’s do more, but it’s no reason to do less.<\/p>\n

In the end, it is an extremely simple subject to me.\u00a0 We can do better as a society than an eye for an eye.\u00a0 I believe that people are worth the effort to explore every avenue of rehabilitation.\u00a0 It is a risk worth taking.<\/p>\n

I say this as a white male of privilege and opportunity, as one who has never been assaulted or mugged or even ever felt seriously threatened.\u00a0 I have never been seriously victimized by a culture that is biased against me.\u00a0 You can call me out on that.\u00a0 And you should.\u00a0 I maintain this viewpoint because I have had this privilege.\u00a0 But until life becomes hard enough that I feel a need to exact revenge, or even worse, proactively hold the world at bay through force, I’ll proudly continue to be a member of this minority that holds out hope for every person.\u00a0 In fact I think it is my place and duty.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, every day leaves me feeling more and more in the minority, hostility all around.\u00a0 Maybe the world is just too rough a place.\u00a0 I guess time will tell.<\/p>\n

Thanks for sharing thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Beck 5 hrs \u00b7 BAD ARGUMENTS FOR A GOOD IDEA I\u2019ve been watching more CNN than usual at Planet Fitness these days (No Judgement!). And maybe it’s because of this that I\u2019ve recently found myself disagreeing vocally\u2014sometimes shouting at the TV like Grandpa Simpson on a treadmill\u2014with folks who are supposed to be my … Continue reading Facebook useful today! More thoughts on capital punishment…<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,17,4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-my-rowdy-friends","category-global-issues","category-rants-and-raves","category-words-of-wisdom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9M0Zg-vB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1959"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1964,"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions\/1964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}