Led me to want to respond to you, but I didn't feel like doing in the thread, I'm tired of the boards recently.
Retributive justice for me is just another way of saying revenge, which is a completely different concept to justice.
I think that many people get very, very confused with regards to justice and revenge.
It is a source of amusement to me in some ways. A 10 year old reading Spiderman and Batman comics typically understands the difference between revenge and justice without needing a pseudo-philosophical debate. (pseudo not in reference to yourself but those that would defend the practice of revenge.)
However, resorting to the "Batman" argument often does not yield positive results. He is a fictional character afterall, but many fictional characters carry with them a great deal of symbolism. You'd think the supporters of revenge would hate such symbols, but they seem to have a huge attraction to them. Similar to war hungry Christians I guess.
Enough with my rambling, I've been enjoying your CE posts recently. Thank you.
You brought up discussion fodder with your response.
I think that restorative justice does not need to be limited to simply giving back the object, paying the fine, etc. For a person who takes away a person eyes, I'd propose that person work for the society in a capacity that helps the blind (making brail versions of instructions or what have you.) A murderer, a rapist? There are plenty of undesireable jobs that need doing. Of course the truly sociopathic need to simply be removed from the workings of the society, perhaps working on something menial and manual that keeps them occupied and far away from the rest of us.
Of course, I'm being more than a little idealistic when I say I think removal from society and being forced to work to make the society better is punishment enough, but I'm not sure I agree with the idea of punishment all that much. What exactly does it achieve? Deterrence often appears to be some kind of mythology and punishing the wicked does not seem to result in their behaviors changing all that much (repeat offenders seem to be a common occurence.)
So, what are we supposed to do? Perhaps work on a society where if you are removed from it, it really is a painful occurence and perhaps attempt to actually rehabilitate people while they pay off their debts to society. Novel concepts?
Thanks for the heads up. I've been following the story in my RSS feeds, but I've been so busy I haven't been on the site at all to get into a discussion.
OH! And, go BErkeley...come to Cal! That's My alma mater. We can be college buddies and hang out on Telegraph with the hippies!
Is one of those where I'm not getting into it on the boards. But your very important question about did it make the problem whatever problem this child had worse is very important.
I tend to think that yes, exposing a person to anything that teaches the solution to conflict is violence, without doubt can contribute to making their psychological issues worse. That is a very, very unpopular opinion, but I'm also of the opinion that a large portion of our behavior is learned and doesn't come from some mystical internal mechanism. Everything around us is teaching us in one way or another.
The problem is, how do we as a society sort out who is capable of "handling it" so to speak, and who is not?
Yeah, I think it's an amazing photo. A lot of his shots have an element to analyze. But this one doesn't have anything specific; it just has a sincerity that I find enigmatic.
As to the opinion I've been seeking, I'm just looking for permission to do something that I know I shouldn't. Luckily, my lecherous Irish friend has given me the green light.
Birds don't travel well. To be honest, they're kind of a pain in the ass.
As for a lovebird, they require a lot of attention; they have a need to bond. Make sure to get one that was bred in captivity rather than caught in the wild. And remember they live for a long time.
I pass by Bojangles Arena every day on the way to work. Big smile.
It makes me sad you can't read. Hopefully that changes soon.
Music? Okay. This is different. Hope you like.
I have such a crush on her.