And in the _present_ social order, of course, all
> punishment is
> positively evil.
I'm a criminal defense lawyer who tries to get murderers out of jail (and sometimes I succeed!); formerly I used to defend corporate bad guys against criminal investigation, and I can't agree. In fact, I couldn't disagree more. From a moral if not a legal point of view (and sometimes that too) most of my clients deserve long prison sentences or heavy fines. Almost all criminal defense lawyers will agree with me, I think.
--- Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
>
>
> ravi wrote:
> >
> >
> > If I may: I think you are conflating "feelings"
> with "beliefs" and
> > "thinking". When a guy cuts me off on the road
> when I am on my
> > motorcycle, I "feel" like choking him to death,
> but I do not
> > "believe" or "think" that such a "feeling" is
> meaningful (in a
> > theoretical sense) or justified.
> >
> > Of course I want to see Pinochet or Kissinger
> suffer. For the same
> > reasons that I want to watch The Big Lebowski and
> Harold and Kumar Go
> > To White Castle every few months. It's a kick. The
> question is: can
> > we generalise from this feeling?
>
> In a world such as the present in which the arrest
> of Kissinger is just
> not conceivable, I would be overjoyed at his arrest:
> The Bastards are
> turning on each other. In a world in which we had
> the power to arrest
> and punish him, in the first flush of victory we
> would think/feel as
> Andie thinks we do/should and as you do right at the
> moment a driver
> cuts you off. Then if our victory was complete
> enough, we really have
> better things to do, and we should probably follow
> Trotsky's suggestion
> of sending them all off for life to a luxurious but
> isolated island
> resort. Punishment is backward looking.
>
> And in the _present_ social order, of course, all
> punishment is
> positively evil.
>
> Carrol
>
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>
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