right to kill
Is it ever ethically right to kill someone? It's a good debate question.
I ask because I'm realizing that I am quite fascinated by this question. Let's look at shows.
Dexter kills because he has an almost biological, mental need to kill and, because his father was a cop, he was trained to only kill the bad guys. But first, having to know absolutely that the bad guy was a bad guy. Is this okay?
Death Note had Light who killed bad guy, too. Everyone called him Kira but some people were on his side. Ridding the world of bad guys, therefore making future bad guys think twice about committing crimes. Of course, he developed a God Complex and let it get to his head. What a good show.
Faith accidentally killed an innocent man in Buffy and tried saying that, out of all the people they've saved, what's one innocent? And on the one hand, you think well... she has a point. But then you know that Buffy's right that saving people doesn't give you a license to kill, either. Of course, later, Giles killed Ben knowing full well that if he didn't, Glory would come back to kill them all. He killed an innocent.
Thirteen killed her brother, after he asked her to, because he was suffering from a disease that was just... destroying him and he wanted to be put out of his misery. Euthanasia. Is Euthanasia wrong?
There was an Animorphs reference here because I know of at least one person who hasn't read the end of the series and might hate me for ruining it.
Okay. These are all fiction. I get that. Except Euthanasia, which Dr. Kevorkian was a big supporter of and was he wrong who knows. But pretend with me for a while. Let yourself be sucked in by the storylines and the people.
It's odd, me asking this question. Because I think in cases like Euthanasia that it's okay. If someone has a terminal disease and wants to die, really just is sick of suffering and will never, ever, ever recover and will only ever get worse, I think they have the right to allow someone else to take their life. Given, there should be a process, rules, consequences. For instance, the one dying should have a predetermined way of saying that they are ready to die, if they can't write or speak for themselves. They need to have a message system set up. And the person who injects or pulls the plug or whatever should probably get some sort of counseling. Most people in the medical field, or any field dealing with people and their health, should probably get counseling. It's a stressful job. All of them.
But I think that the Death Penalty is wrong. And I think abortion is okay. Mainly I think that the Death Penalty is wrong because I think people are able to come back from their mistakes, are able to come to terms with the wrongs they've done. Are able to get rehabilitated. And I also think people can make mistakes, like on the other side of the glass. I think the jury and the attorneys and the judges can make mistakes, people can slip through the cracks, and innocent people can be found guilty. It's human nature to be wrong every once and a while and just one person who's innocent being found guilty is too many. But I think that the amount of stress and physical labors that going through nine months of pregnancy puts on a woman is enough to let her be the judge of her own body. And it IS her own body until it becomes the baby's own body. In nine months. Which is also funny because I am just so eager to have babies. To be pregnant and feel something growing inside of me. I mean, I can wait. Duh. But I've had so many dreams and I want it so bad....
And then there's eye for an eye. Which I believe in. To an extent. There's a guy somewhere in the middle east who wanted this girl to marry him and stalked her and annoyed her and bothered her and she kept saying no, get away from me, no is no, and then he threw acid in her eyes. She's blind. She had to go through so many surgeries and she'll never recover fully. And their law there is eye for an eye. And there's a human rights group arguing that he shouldn't get blinded because it's inhumane. And I'm so torn on the subject because he knew their laws but he continued to blind her anyway. And she's at a HUGE disadvantage now because she's blind. If he doesn't become blinded, he could easily stalk her and attack her again and she won't even see it coming to defend herself. Literally can't see him coming. So why shouldn't he be blinded? I'm pretty solid on this, actually. He knew the consequences, he did it anyway. And it's not death. He can still repent. In fact, if he gets blinded, he'll have darkness the rest of his life in which to repent. And I don't mean repent in the religious way, but then again maybe I do. Repent in whatever way he needs to to be forgiven for what he's done. That's not something you should just be allowed off the hook for.
I guess I'm writing a couple of stories where I'm trying to question this whole right to kill question and I'm kind of terrified that it's too big of a topic.
I ask because I'm realizing that I am quite fascinated by this question. Let's look at shows.
Dexter kills because he has an almost biological, mental need to kill and, because his father was a cop, he was trained to only kill the bad guys. But first, having to know absolutely that the bad guy was a bad guy. Is this okay?
Death Note had Light who killed bad guy, too. Everyone called him Kira but some people were on his side. Ridding the world of bad guys, therefore making future bad guys think twice about committing crimes. Of course, he developed a God Complex and let it get to his head. What a good show.
Faith accidentally killed an innocent man in Buffy and tried saying that, out of all the people they've saved, what's one innocent? And on the one hand, you think well... she has a point. But then you know that Buffy's right that saving people doesn't give you a license to kill, either. Of course, later, Giles killed Ben knowing full well that if he didn't, Glory would come back to kill them all. He killed an innocent.
Thirteen killed her brother, after he asked her to, because he was suffering from a disease that was just... destroying him and he wanted to be put out of his misery. Euthanasia. Is Euthanasia wrong?
There was an Animorphs reference here because I know of at least one person who hasn't read the end of the series and might hate me for ruining it.
Okay. These are all fiction. I get that. Except Euthanasia, which Dr. Kevorkian was a big supporter of and was he wrong who knows. But pretend with me for a while. Let yourself be sucked in by the storylines and the people.
It's odd, me asking this question. Because I think in cases like Euthanasia that it's okay. If someone has a terminal disease and wants to die, really just is sick of suffering and will never, ever, ever recover and will only ever get worse, I think they have the right to allow someone else to take their life. Given, there should be a process, rules, consequences. For instance, the one dying should have a predetermined way of saying that they are ready to die, if they can't write or speak for themselves. They need to have a message system set up. And the person who injects or pulls the plug or whatever should probably get some sort of counseling. Most people in the medical field, or any field dealing with people and their health, should probably get counseling. It's a stressful job. All of them.
But I think that the Death Penalty is wrong. And I think abortion is okay. Mainly I think that the Death Penalty is wrong because I think people are able to come back from their mistakes, are able to come to terms with the wrongs they've done. Are able to get rehabilitated. And I also think people can make mistakes, like on the other side of the glass. I think the jury and the attorneys and the judges can make mistakes, people can slip through the cracks, and innocent people can be found guilty. It's human nature to be wrong every once and a while and just one person who's innocent being found guilty is too many. But I think that the amount of stress and physical labors that going through nine months of pregnancy puts on a woman is enough to let her be the judge of her own body. And it IS her own body until it becomes the baby's own body. In nine months. Which is also funny because I am just so eager to have babies. To be pregnant and feel something growing inside of me. I mean, I can wait. Duh. But I've had so many dreams and I want it so bad....
And then there's eye for an eye. Which I believe in. To an extent. There's a guy somewhere in the middle east who wanted this girl to marry him and stalked her and annoyed her and bothered her and she kept saying no, get away from me, no is no, and then he threw acid in her eyes. She's blind. She had to go through so many surgeries and she'll never recover fully. And their law there is eye for an eye. And there's a human rights group arguing that he shouldn't get blinded because it's inhumane. And I'm so torn on the subject because he knew their laws but he continued to blind her anyway. And she's at a HUGE disadvantage now because she's blind. If he doesn't become blinded, he could easily stalk her and attack her again and she won't even see it coming to defend herself. Literally can't see him coming. So why shouldn't he be blinded? I'm pretty solid on this, actually. He knew the consequences, he did it anyway. And it's not death. He can still repent. In fact, if he gets blinded, he'll have darkness the rest of his life in which to repent. And I don't mean repent in the religious way, but then again maybe I do. Repent in whatever way he needs to to be forgiven for what he's done. That's not something you should just be allowed off the hook for.
I guess I'm writing a couple of stories where I'm trying to question this whole right to kill question and I'm kind of terrified that it's too big of a topic.