Sunday, June 22, 2008

The "Punishment Mentality"

It disturbs me a bit to realize that some people live their lives just to see someone else get punished. "Give 'em what they've got coming!" gives them a thrill. I admit, there are some people I can't dredge up much sympathy for (does "initiating force, or threatening or delegating its initiation" ring a bell?).

Maybe it is like a reality show for them. After all, garbage like "COPS" has been polluting minds for many years now. So the "good citizen" hears about Person X and the accusations against him; sees Person X go to trial and then to jail; then gets giddy at the prospect of Person X suffering extra-judicial punishment at the hands of the other prisoners. I just don't get it. I realize that we are all just one set-up away from being locked up on some bogus charge. Yes, even the most "patriotic" among us. The crimes that elicit this response the most often are also the easiest for the enforcers to fake.

On the other hand, when some attacker gets culled from the gene pool by an armed, free Human, I don't shed a tear. It is simply that I don't, and never will, trust the state and its methods or goals.


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