Two wrongs don't make a right (RL)
Dec. 13th, 2005 08:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thistlechaserNote: This is a "political" post. Some on my flist might not like it or agree with it. I don't for one minute believe that one LJ post from me will change anyone's opinion on the subject, but this is my LJ and I'm rather disappointed by this mess, and so I'm writing about it.
One of the earliest lessons my mother taught me was "Two wrongs don't make a right". Just because my sister hit me did not mean it was okay for me to hit her back. Why do people forget that lesson once they grow up?
Last night Stanley "Tookie" Williams was killed. He's the person who founded the Crips gang and was convicted of murdering multiple people. I'm not here to argue his guilt or innocence in those matters, I'm commenting on the fact that California did the exact same thing last night: They killed him in cold blood.
Williams did the murders 25 years ago, half his lifetime ago (he was killed at 51). And since then? He's been writing books to try to keep kids out of gangs, books aimed at gangs to try to bring peace back to the streets. If he were still alive he could perhaps do more to help, to change the problems he helped bring about, but what's he going to do dead?
Arnold Schwarzenegger (as if I hadn't already had enough reason to think nothing of him as a person or a government official) had this to say:
Williams has written books that instruct readers to avoid the gang lifestyle and to
stay out of prison. In 1996, a "Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence"
children's book series was published. In 1998, "Life in Prison" was published. In
2004, Williams published a memoir entitled "Blue Rage, Black Redemption." He
has also recently (since 1995) tried to preach a message of gang avoidance and
peacemaking, including a protocol for street peace to be used by opposing gangs.
It is hard to assess the effect of such efforts in concrete terms, but the continued
pervasiveness of gang violence leads one to question the efficacy of Williams'
message.
So what Schwarzenegger is saying is: Since Williams hasn't single-handedly stopped gang violence, his efforts are useless?
If it were up to me, I would not have put Williams back onto the street. He did bad things and for those he needs to be punished. But murder him? Do the exact same thing you're punishing him for? That makes no sense.
It embarrasses me that America still uses death as a punishment. From Amnesty International:
In 2004, 97 per cent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Viet Nam, and the USA.
Nice company we're keeping there, huh?
I've (sadly) said it before and I'll say it again: We're a nation of children. "He hit me so I'll hit him back!" "I hate X! It's not enough that I don't have to do X, but I don't want anyone else to be permitted to, either!" "I believe in X, so everyone else better as well! Or else!" I really wish we'd all just grow up. Live and let live. You want to believe in God? Knock yourself out, but don't make entire schools include "under god" in the Pledge. You don't want to marry someone of the same sex? Fine and dandy, but why in the world would you think that you should be able to force your opinion onto everyone else?
One of the earliest lessons my mother taught me was "Two wrongs don't make a right". Just because my sister hit me did not mean it was okay for me to hit her back. Why do people forget that lesson once they grow up?
Last night Stanley "Tookie" Williams was killed. He's the person who founded the Crips gang and was convicted of murdering multiple people. I'm not here to argue his guilt or innocence in those matters, I'm commenting on the fact that California did the exact same thing last night: They killed him in cold blood.
Williams did the murders 25 years ago, half his lifetime ago (he was killed at 51). And since then? He's been writing books to try to keep kids out of gangs, books aimed at gangs to try to bring peace back to the streets. If he were still alive he could perhaps do more to help, to change the problems he helped bring about, but what's he going to do dead?
Arnold Schwarzenegger (as if I hadn't already had enough reason to think nothing of him as a person or a government official) had this to say:
Williams has written books that instruct readers to avoid the gang lifestyle and to
stay out of prison. In 1996, a "Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence"
children's book series was published. In 1998, "Life in Prison" was published. In
2004, Williams published a memoir entitled "Blue Rage, Black Redemption." He
has also recently (since 1995) tried to preach a message of gang avoidance and
peacemaking, including a protocol for street peace to be used by opposing gangs.
It is hard to assess the effect of such efforts in concrete terms, but the continued
pervasiveness of gang violence leads one to question the efficacy of Williams'
message.
So what Schwarzenegger is saying is: Since Williams hasn't single-handedly stopped gang violence, his efforts are useless?
If it were up to me, I would not have put Williams back onto the street. He did bad things and for those he needs to be punished. But murder him? Do the exact same thing you're punishing him for? That makes no sense.
It embarrasses me that America still uses death as a punishment. From Amnesty International:
In 2004, 97 per cent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Viet Nam, and the USA.
Nice company we're keeping there, huh?
I've (sadly) said it before and I'll say it again: We're a nation of children. "He hit me so I'll hit him back!" "I hate X! It's not enough that I don't have to do X, but I don't want anyone else to be permitted to, either!" "I believe in X, so everyone else better as well! Or else!" I really wish we'd all just grow up. Live and let live. You want to believe in God? Knock yourself out, but don't make entire schools include "under god" in the Pledge. You don't want to marry someone of the same sex? Fine and dandy, but why in the world would you think that you should be able to force your opinion onto everyone else?
