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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Violent Nation

We live in a democracy, but to believe the television, it is a democracy teetering on the brink, where mainstream politicians can use the rhetoric of violence against one another with impunity, until an act of violence occurs and such people recoil in feigned revulsion and crocodile tears.

Certainly speech didn't put a bullet through Congresswoman Giffords' head, that was a young man with "a head full of bad juice," as one of my favorite characters would put it. So, in a fundamentally uncivil society what is the rational response--forget civility, that's tres passe.

We are left with the "Chicago Way" from Brian DePalma's film, the Untouchables:
You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife,
you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his
to the morgue.
That's the Chicago way...


And so, we wring our hands and come to the conclusion that being forearmed is the only way to negotiate a society in which the police cannot be counted upon to maintain law, order and peace, we must arm ourselves.

In a society in which guns are prized above the lives of 9 year old girls, federal judges, ladies of small consequence, and political aides, the only rational response is to murder in return. Therefore, I announce that my 25 year principle against the death penalty officially ended. If summoned to serve on a jury in a capital case, I will unhesitatingly be able and willing to vote to put to death a person capable of this kind of violence. Especially, ESPECIALLY! if he uses a handgun to do it.



2 comments:

Steve Will said...

Mike, I think I know exactly what you mean. Conceptually, I have understood that a society might be allowed to kill someone for the betterment of that society, but I did not used to believe I could be part of such a decision.

Like you, I have unfortunately seen the kind of evil which made me reconsider.

Am I all the way over to thinking I could be part of a jury that finds for the death penalty? Not sure. But I may well be.

Michael Hacker said...

Steve! Thanks for your comment. I wasn't aware that Minnesota had the death penalty. Of course, even if it does not, that doesn't mean you couldn't be called on a *federal* capital case, as this one will be.