Quote:
Originally Posted by DiscoDan  Can you definitively say that, if you were in the child molester's shoes, that you would not behave in the exact same way?
Perhaps it is the case that the very same child molester you judge as being 'bad' was himself molested as a child and became so disturbed by the event that the only way he knew how to deal with it was to reciprocate in his adult life.
Because we know no circumstances other than our own, how can it possibly be right to judge anyone else as 'good' or 'bad' (even child molesters)? In fact it is exactly nonjudgmental compassion that these people need most, and is our only chance if we want to help change them for the better. |
See? This is what I am talking about.
I think I can honestly say that I would not repeatedly rape little girls and bury them alive under my back steps under any circumstances. Perhaps that is because I am a woman, I dunno.
Listen, I understand WHY they are doing bad things. I understand that the end based thinking we now have isn't going to work. Punishing behavior is not nearly as effective as preventing it. Ideally, we should try to identify abused children and give them as much support and therapy as they need. Eventually, there wouldn't be any child molesting. Its the same thing with all crime. Happy, well adjusted people don't go around committing crimes for no reason. If we would start NOW thinking more about getting ahead of the motivators for dealing drugs and committing crimes we would be able to limit crime to a negligible problem within the next century (BTW, I read somewhere that it would be cheaper in the long run to do that than to house and punish all the criminals over the next 100 years). I get all that. I am a liberal Democrat, for god's sake. I still think raping and murdering kids is wrong. Call me crazy, but that is a judgement that no matter how I think about it, I can't stop having.