>>Actually, these two messages represent an interesting twist on the whole punishment debate : the wishes of the aggreived party i.e. the murdered. Perhaps we could carry in our wallets a card explicitly spelling out our wishes in case we are the victim of a murder. Yours would specify jail time, mine would specify something similar to what was done to those convicted of treason or setting fire to her majesty's shipyards in 16th century England. (Look it up, it isn't pretty) Not sure if it would act as a deterrant but I'd like to think it would at least engender genuine remorse on the part of my murderer <s>
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>Just a mental experiment: what would be proper for a person who goes deep into a forest and shouts "fire in a crowded theater" if nobody hears them?
Self-abuse ?
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
