How do you react regarding "cruel acts"?

[jackhunter]

This is a question that is very important for me, and that comes back almost everyday of my life.

We hear everyday about murders, rapes, very crual acts.

One reaction i often see is to try to understand the reasons that drove people to act like this.Like, this boy killed his friend at school because he played video games too much/had parents who watched the tv instead of raising him/lives in poor quarters, so this kid is not completely responsible.
Those young men burnt a wife in a bus, but they are poor and rejected, we are responsible for this mess(this may not be completely wrong as poverty causes criminalty)

While i admit its important to understand whats behind those acts, i am torn apart two arguments i often hear/watch/read

_If you blame criminals who live in poor quarters, you are a racist bourgeois, fascist because you grant more importance to safety than to liberty.Even if you dont mention their origins, some people will tell you that.

_If you are against extreme punishments , you side with not rigorous people who lack of will and are driving the society to its doom.

Those two reactions are stereotypes i often encounter on the web.

MAybe because i am weak, i admit i am sensitive to those news, and that i often let the fear rules me, i often watch my back in the street.
I cannot accept to consider the idea pain and suffering is banal, especially when caused by humans to other humans.

So how do you react regarding the "storm" of crual acts we are confronted every day ?

 

[Shogun_Master]

Honestly, ever since I read these books, the Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind, I've kind of tried very much to understand why someone does this or that, but, honestly, this is what I've settled on.

Because of the religious influences in the world, most people grow up thinking that everything is either good, or evil- black or white- which is NOT true. There is no such thing as absolute good, which should be obvious to most people, even the best among us has a "dark" side. Vice versa, there is no absolute evil, even Hitler himself (yes, I know I can't rpove it, but still) would have had a point where he knew he was doing wrong.

The lie comes in applying this to what we call "tolerance" which is ignoring something that we believe is wrong because we don't want to hurt someone we care about. A lot of Americans believe in family & love above justice some times- I know mine did & I was ostricised for expressing it to them. This comes down to allowing either passion or greed to defeat reason, no one should lay feeling on any issue as it creates a bias. If someone does something wrong, they should be punished- within reason- for it. If you understand why they did it, you should try to get through to them, whilst keeping them free from society. If it's proven ineffective, the person should be removed from society & if proven dangerous, the person should not be allowed to live.

The main issue I have noticed, however, if applying this to situations that are only viewed as wrong, but are not, in & of themselves, a bad thing (sexual orientation, religious beliefs or lack thereof, & speaking out against what you believe) & this is wrong as well.

In the end though, there cannot be world peace because there never has been & never will be a perfect human. Sorry for rambling, this is just a sensitive issue for me.

 

[Bigdog]

Honestly, ever since I read these books, the Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind, I've kind of tried very much to understand why someone does this or that, but, honestly, this is what I've settled on.

Because of the religious influences in the world, most people grow up thinking that everything is either good, or evil- black or white- which is NOT true. There is no such thing as absolute good, which should be obvious to most people, even the best among us has a "dark" side. Vice versa, there is no absolute evil, even Hitler himself (yes, I know I can't rpove it, but still) would have had a point where he knew he was doing wrong.

The lie comes in applying this to what we call "tolerance" which is ignoring something that we believe is wrong because we don't want to hurt someone we care about. A lot of Americans believe in family & love above justice some times- I know mine did & I was ostricised for expressing it to them. This comes down to allowing either passion or greed to defeat reason, no one should lay feeling on any issue as it creates a bias. If someone does something wrong, they should be punished- within reason- for it. If you understand why they did it, you should try to get through to them, whilst keeping them free from society. If it's proven ineffective, the person should be removed from society & if proven dangerous, the person should not be allowed to live.

The main issue I have noticed, however, if applying this to situations that are only viewed as wrong, but are not, in & of themselves, a bad thing (sexual orientation, religious beliefs or lack thereof, & speaking out against what you believe) & this is wrong as well.

In the end though, there cannot be world peace because there never has been & never will be a perfect human. Sorry for rambling, this is just a sensitive issue for me.

World Peace can be achieved... if a world empire was made that encompassed the known world and "wars" became mere "rebellions and unrest" that would be promptly put down.

 

[Shogun_Master]

Yes, but then who would be able to stopp them from becoming corrupt? There would be no one or nothing to check them.

 

[Kura]

"Valid" reason or not, they are still aware that they are doing something immoral and hurtful when they go through with it. Why should I pity that wrong choice unless they are deemed legally insane?
Peoples choices reflect on their character. They do those harmful acts for selfish reasons instead of finding a way to deal with it positively.
I am completely intolerant.

 

[Midori Ken]

"Valid" reason or not, they are still aware that they are doing something immoral and hurtful when they go through with it. Why should I pity that wrong choice unless they are deemed legally insane?
Peoples choices reflect on their character. They do those harmful acts for selfish reasons instead of finding a way to deal with it positively.
I am completely intolerant.

Because no human being just wakes up and wants to be a bad guy. We will always want things. Desires can be pure, dirty, even cruel. But they are all selfish. It just differs drastically between individuals what resources they have, and what they are willing to do, to get it. You can't just tell people to find a positive way all the time.