Comments | jigsawpig: Not in my name

jigsawpig

Not in my name

Nov 12, 2006 11:12

For some reason, possibly because I am surprisingly dim, it never really dawned on me that England had any laws, apart from obvious practical ones about not parking on zebra crossings, and not taking other people's stuff without their permission. I suppose I have a fairly pragmatic view of the role of the state in enforcing behaviours, namely that ( Read more... )

Comments 13

Simple pig perthman November 13 2006, 09:05:03 UTC

This is a bit simplistic JP. Where do you stand on the issue of, say, punishment? Or justice for victims?

Re: Simple pig jigsawpig November 13 2006, 09:35:37 UTC

Punishment for its own sake I have never quite been able to see the point of. If it turns out that what you need to do to prevent someone being a nuisance to the general public is something they find unpleasant, then this is a regrettable coincidence. The aim is to prevent them doing it any more, not to make them feel regret for having done it in the first place.

In terms of justice for victims, then I can see that if someone takes away someone else's property, and still has it, then society might reasonably arrange for it to be returned, since this is only fair. I don't think its sensible to start compensating people for stress or physical injury, even if this is someone else's fault. If someone punches me in the nose what I want is an assurance that they will be prevented from doing it again. I don't want permission to punch them back, or some financial reward for the fact that it happened.

Re: Simple pig perthman November 13 2006, 14:52:40 UTC

The deranged man in Baghdad you refer to has apparently murdered thousands of innocent people, and has now been convicted of at least some of those murders. I guess you could consider that as being a nuisance to the general public. I'm personally opposed to the death penalty in all cases, but can't help thinking that some sort of punishment is probably in order for this chap ( ... )

Re: Simple pig jigsawpig November 14 2006, 05:33:27 UTC

I guess there are two issues - one is the 'reparation' side of things, which I think probably does have some logic to it, the other is 'revenge', which I can't see has any justification in either logic or morality. There does seem to be a tradition of treating revenge as a type of reparation, though.

anonymous November 13 2006, 19:34:27 UTC

perhaps we could draw some lessons from second life on this important issue. what did you do when someone there recently built a house in front of your nose thereby cutting off your view?

jigsawpig November 14 2006, 05:38:00 UTC

Well, it wasn't technically a crime, since it was his land. Our neighbour on the other side recently put up a bondage-themed nightclub, so we are used to dealing with the unexpected.

Crime and Punishment anonymous November 14 2006, 19:25:04 UTC

Perhaps a more appropriate way of looking at this would be to draw an analogy between Sadman's actions and those of a lunatic in SL who decides to terminate your neighbours and friends on the basis that they share some common heritage or interest, let's say 'scripting'.

Scripters are indiscriminately erased from SL in some horrid and unspeakable manner, bar JP and a handful of other lucky souls. You wouldn't be incensed? OK you might not ask GW or Tony for help, but surely, even a mild mannered pig couldn't stand idly by?

Re: Crime and Punishment anonymous November 14 2006, 19:30:42 UTC

nah... he'd just put on his new computer wifi linked mp3 enabled tshirt that i read about in the times today and play some wild and noisy air guitar...

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