PureX
Well-known member
I know it does, and I understand.Granite said:I would submit that for every action there must be an appropriate reaction. Executing deviants such as this man strikes me as the only just and appropriate response to this kind of atrocity.
But it only strikes you this way because you grew up watching movies and reading books based on the glorification of violent revenge. It was an easy thrill for Hollywood movie-makers and fiction-writers to create and sell. And the thrill ride they created worked on us because we humans are naturally fascinated by "evil", and violence, and death.
I love John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies as much as anyone, but the sad truth is that the heart and soul of all those movies, and many thousands like them, was the cheap thrill of violent revenge. All the movie-makers did was titillate us with "evil", violence, and death, (because we are automatically titillated by these) and give us an excuse for our titillation by pretending it was "justified".
By now, every generation of American living has been raised with this idea of the justness of violent revenge, and most have never bothered to actually question it intellectually, philosophically, or even practically. It's so ingrained in us that we feel a visceral sense of satisfaction when we see the "bad guy" blown up, or ripped to pieces by bullets, or otherwise violently obliterated (as if obliterating the bad man will obliterate the "badness" he has done). But in real life a violent response to violence only increases violence across the board. And as a result America is now one of the most violent places on Earth even though we have a great legal system and an excellent police force. We have trained ourselves to be violent people, and to think that violence is an appropriate response to whatever action or person we consider "bad", and the inevitable result is more and more violence within our society.
I understand your feelings, but I also understand that you have been trained by Hollywood to feel as you do. But Hollywood was just trying to sell movies, they weren't intending to rationalize social violence. Maybe it's time to take some responsibility for those feelings you have and really consider the viability of allowing them to shape your concept of ethics.