42

[gimmethemap]

I hear a lot of talk from Inmates and Wardens alike who are dissatisfied with how murderers are handled in this place, and I really do agree. Something few of us are willing to accept is that fairness in how we deal with them cannot be achieved without adding a touch of barbarity to the proceedings here.

But the more often this occurs the more I think I'd like to adopt a policy of executing murderers aboard this ship -- and this includes Wardens as much as Inmates.

And don't feed me any of that garbage about how it means nothing because they come back. Almost everyone here who has been around a while has died once. You understand perfectly well that the fact that we can return doesn't make the experience any less terrifying and painful. No matter how many times it happens to you, you're not going to convince yourself, body and mind, that everything will be all right.

Death is still the ultimate suffering in this place. The Hellish thing is that it can happen to you more than once, here.

Comments

[onderhaus.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[namorofthesea.livejournal.com]

Your proposition sounds reasonable.

[acid_rayne]

It's only a punishment if it is painful.

There were a few unpleasant individuals from my past who even found getting repeatedly killed, disturbingly pleasurable.

[fathersbludgeon.livejournal.com]

How 'bout we go find some babies?

We already got the trucks and pitchforks, right?

[cautionarystory.livejournal.com]

What're you gonna do, send me to the electric chair?

[bythe_books]

No. When I said "consequences," that wasn't what I had in mind.

[hologramatic.livejournal.com]

What a splendid idea!

Though I think we should bump it up a notch. You know, really make those bastards suffer. If an inmate won't do as his warden instructs? Let that smeghead have his toenails pulled out one by one with tweezers until he's feeling a bit more compliant! Still won't listen? That's when the real fun begins...

No inmate should get away with disrespecting their wardens!

[thatlibbychick.livejournal.com]

You can't solve murder with more murder.

[autistic-genius.livejournal.com]

I also have to agree that this doesn't sound like a good idea. What you're proposing, basically, is an eye for an eye.

Mahatma Gandhi remarked: "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind."

Even though it may be hard to do in practice, certain belief systems (such as Christianity) teach individuals to forgive those who wrong them, rather than seek retribution for a wrong. Other belief systems adhere to similar concepts, such as the Taoist wu wei which encourages a wronged individual to simply accept the infraction and to take the least "resistive" action to correct it, if any action need to be taken at all. Buddhism stresses the weight of karma: one can take retributive action, but that retributive action is not without its consequences, and living on a finite planet guarantees that the suffering incurred by a retributive action will return to the individual who was wronged (as well as the one who did the wrong-doing). Some subscribe to the Golden Rule of ethics rather than any law of retaliation.

It can also be seen as an extension of the informal logical fallacy, two wrongs make a right.

...I don't think an endless cycle of killing is the answer. I think wardens need to work with their inmates and help them get over their desires to kill each other.

[notababysaver.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what Mr. Working On His BA In Philosophy said. I have my BA in Philosophy, and, well, I don't feel like using it, but...

You're basically talking about the Hebrew Bible, where we've got Deuteronomy 19:17-21 and Exodus 21:23-21:27 telling us to take an eye for an eye, foot for a foot, hand for a hand, life for life, all that. The thing is, everybody goes around interpreting it literally, but the guy who kinda started the whole deal, Hammurabi, really only wanted to create a restricted sliding scale of punishment.

Like, somebody pokes your eye out, you don't get to put him to death. Moses doesn't literally want people to kill somebody 'cause they killed somebody else.

See, everybody gets that wrong. Hammurabi's code wasn't the law of the jungle, it was actually pretty sophisticated. The medieval creeps who set you on fire 'cause you stole a loaf of bread? That's the law of the jungle. Hammurabi wanted to prevent excessive punishment.

We start killing people around here, it's gonna turn into Lord of the Flies real fast. The only reason capital punishment works is that the system is big enough and impersonal enough that nobody is forced to take the real blame. There aren't enough people around here to prevent some serious blame-taking, lady.

Killing people is just a big mess waiting to happen. Before you know it, people will start thinking people are witches or crazy or whatever just 'cause they're... crazy... or whatever. And then there'll be fire and one of those stools where they almost drown you 'cause you weigh more than a duck... Point is this is a bad idea.