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Remember that these men all took some dearly loved person and tore their life apart like it was worthless. They are scum who don’t deserve the air they breathe.

Remember that these men all took some dearly loved person and tore their life apart like it was worthless. They are scum who don’t deserve the air they breathe. So they have a radio program, OK, whatever. Don’t expect me to clap.

patcon 5y ago
Could you imagine any conceivable situation where redemption or mercy is acceptable? And if the victim finds it appropriate to offer, how do you feel then?
- p2t2p 5y ago
  If the victim finds it appropriate to offer then ok. The issue here is the package deal, not all death row inmates are equal. One is a monster that molested and killed a number a number of children, another is an idiot that played knight rider and ended up crashing into a group of people. As an unrelated (not a victim) observer, I’m fine for mercy and forgiveness for the second type, provided victims agree. I’m definitely not fine giving a chance to get out on the streets to the first type.
  - patcon 5y ago
    I really appreciate the response. I will admit to having a lot of fear about how the cultural swells are cresting right now, and I'm hanging my hopes on some sort of rediscovery of repair/mercy/forgiveness/mutability. I fear that without these, there's no way through these overlapping cultural clashes , both in America and more generally in the world. Not that you owed me anything, but your response made me feel a little more hopeful than your original comment (which I don't begrudge you in the slightest, just being honest about where I'm coming from). Which is to say: thanks Anyhow, I hope you're well over the holidays!
- spoonjim 5y ago
  How is the victim of a murder going to forgive anyone?
diego 5y ago
Without even getting into whether the guilty deserve it or not, you are assuming justice is infallible. What is your best guess for the rate of false positives on death row?
eadmund 5y ago
I think we should remember the villainy and cruelty of their crimes, but I would not say that they are necessarily scum. They committed truly evil acts, and should be punished for them, but they can still repent. Their victims' lives had worth — but then, so do their own.
- spoonjim 5y ago
  They can repent on their way to the electric chair. Make their case to Jesus or Allah or whatever.
dang 5y ago
Please don't post generic flamewar comments to HN. The threads they lead to are endlessly repetitive and tedious. We want conversations that haven't been had a thousand times before. Low-information, high-indignation posts are the opposite of what HN is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

patcon 5y ago

Could you imagine any conceivable situation where redemption or mercy is acceptable? And if the victim finds it appropriate to offer, how do you feel then?

p2t2p 5y ago
If the victim finds it appropriate to offer then ok. The issue here is the package deal, not all death row inmates are equal. One is a monster that molested and killed a number a number of children, another is an idiot that played knight rider and ended up crashing into a group of people. As an unrelated (not a victim) observer, I’m fine for mercy and forgiveness for the second type, provided victims agree. I’m definitely not fine giving a chance to get out on the streets to the first type.
- patcon 5y ago
  I really appreciate the response. I will admit to having a lot of fear about how the cultural swells are cresting right now, and I'm hanging my hopes on some sort of rediscovery of repair/mercy/forgiveness/mutability. I fear that without these, there's no way through these overlapping cultural clashes , both in America and more generally in the world. Not that you owed me anything, but your response made me feel a little more hopeful than your original comment (which I don't begrudge you in the slightest, just being honest about where I'm coming from). Which is to say: thanks Anyhow, I hope you're well over the holidays!
spoonjim 5y ago
How is the victim of a murder going to forgive anyone?

diego 5y ago

Without even getting into whether the guilty deserve it or not, you are assuming justice is infallible. What is your best guess for the rate of false positives on death row?

eadmund 5y ago

I think we should remember the villainy and cruelty of their crimes, but I would not say that they are necessarily scum. They committed truly evil acts, and should be punished for them, but they can still repent. Their victims' lives had worth — but then, so do their own.

spoonjim 5y ago
They can repent on their way to the electric chair. Make their case to Jesus or Allah or whatever.

dang 5y ago

Please don't post generic flamewar comments to HN. The threads they lead to are endlessly repetitive and tedious. We want conversations that haven't been had a thousand times before. Low-information, high-indignation posts are the opposite of what HN is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.