Right versus correct
Convicted killer Williams put to death in Calif. - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com
So, at 12:35 AM PST, "Tookie" Williams was finally put to death ...
... and then a miracle happened! In contrast to the old saying, Albert Owens was just seen crawling out of his grave and walking to the nearest 7-11 to buy a Big Gulp and a hot dog! And the Yangs were spotted shopping at the local supermarket only minutes after the execution! And, oh my goodnes, Ye-Chen Lin was found dancing at a local night club, still in burial clothes!
It's true! It really DOES bring the dead back to life!
...
ha ha ha ha.
But seriously. I do not mean to belittle what happened to those four poor souls in 1981; but the fact of the matter is, killing Williams will not and did not bring those four people back to life. So, what's the point?
There can be only one logical answer: closure for the families of the victims. It is NOT justice: it is nothing more than legalized revenge. But it still creates closure...and considering Williams' assistance in his own execution, I begin to wonder if he was eager to end it all due to some hidden guilt for REALLY having committed those murders some 24 years ago. It is an interesting thought.
Regardless, the execution of Tookie brings up the differences between what is "right" and what is "correct;" because there is a difference. Gov. Schwarzenegger's final decision to deny clemency, in my opinion, was technically "correct." That is, there was more than enough evidence (let's ignore the fact that the defense team supposedly found a witness that could have exonerated Williams) against Williams, and other arguments to support that Williams was not only guilty, but not truly remorseful for those crimes. To top that off, even if Williams was (God forbid) innocent, to stay the execution would continue to use taxpayers' dollars and not give the families of the victims closure (which, in my mind, is the only excuse for the death penalty). So, it was convenient as well, and therefore "technically correct."
It was, however, not right. If people think humans should stop playing God, then they should do so in every arena; from stem cell research to the death penalty. The whole spectrum. But, I guess, that makes "right" and "wrong" a matter of black-and-white (a typical human assertion). However, every time I think of the entire concept of the death penalty, I'm always reminded of what Gandalf told Frodo in Lord of the Rings: "There are those that live that deserve to die; there are those who die who deserve life. Can you give it to them?"
The scales are not balanced. In the end, there are only five deaths instead of four. To quote an old saying, "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
So, at 12:35 AM PST, "Tookie" Williams was finally put to death ...
... and then a miracle happened! In contrast to the old saying, Albert Owens was just seen crawling out of his grave and walking to the nearest 7-11 to buy a Big Gulp and a hot dog! And the Yangs were spotted shopping at the local supermarket only minutes after the execution! And, oh my goodnes, Ye-Chen Lin was found dancing at a local night club, still in burial clothes!
It's true! It really DOES bring the dead back to life!
...
ha ha ha ha.
But seriously. I do not mean to belittle what happened to those four poor souls in 1981; but the fact of the matter is, killing Williams will not and did not bring those four people back to life. So, what's the point?
There can be only one logical answer: closure for the families of the victims. It is NOT justice: it is nothing more than legalized revenge. But it still creates closure...and considering Williams' assistance in his own execution, I begin to wonder if he was eager to end it all due to some hidden guilt for REALLY having committed those murders some 24 years ago. It is an interesting thought.
Regardless, the execution of Tookie brings up the differences between what is "right" and what is "correct;" because there is a difference. Gov. Schwarzenegger's final decision to deny clemency, in my opinion, was technically "correct." That is, there was more than enough evidence (let's ignore the fact that the defense team supposedly found a witness that could have exonerated Williams) against Williams, and other arguments to support that Williams was not only guilty, but not truly remorseful for those crimes. To top that off, even if Williams was (God forbid) innocent, to stay the execution would continue to use taxpayers' dollars and not give the families of the victims closure (which, in my mind, is the only excuse for the death penalty). So, it was convenient as well, and therefore "technically correct."
It was, however, not right. If people think humans should stop playing God, then they should do so in every arena; from stem cell research to the death penalty. The whole spectrum. But, I guess, that makes "right" and "wrong" a matter of black-and-white (a typical human assertion). However, every time I think of the entire concept of the death penalty, I'm always reminded of what Gandalf told Frodo in Lord of the Rings: "There are those that live that deserve to die; there are those who die who deserve life. Can you give it to them?"
The scales are not balanced. In the end, there are only five deaths instead of four. To quote an old saying, "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
posted by xanadian at 10:29 AM
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