Death Penalty and Deterring Crime

[Griff]

I think I see where you're coming from, Verbatim. The guys that perpetrate these kinds of acts don't seem to feel it inside. The point I'm trying to make is that those of us in the broader society need to make sure we up hold a standard of conduct and continue to feel it as Dag expressed it. To me, it doesn't matter what philosophy you adhere to to understand that perpetuating violence drags the whole society down. I'm not talking about some hippy-dippy Koombyah singing new agey circle of love take yer prozac twice a day book burning internet censoring feel good jazz. I'm talking about the UTILITY of not flippin off the disengaged yuppie on the car phone in traffic. As individuals we must be accountable for our negative impact on society. We have to embrace our personal responsibility unlike those soccer moms you astutely mentioned.

As far as student violence goes, we need to consider what we as adults "model" (remembering with some amusement a particularly lame educational theory indoctrinaton) to young people. We kill the McVs when they get in the way. We kill the Iraqis when they get in the way. We jail pot heads for not fitting in. We, through government, use force to solve our problems. We force kids into schools they don't fit in. We force their parents to pay for it. The soccer mom forces the school to counsel lil' Timmy, when she doesn't want to deal with him personally across kitchen table.