How familiar does that old saying, “two wrongs don’t make a right” sound?
Perhaps you recall your mother telling you in ‘that’ voice. Remember? The one where she knew best. Perhaps your level headed friend has warned you when you feel on the brink of rationality towards something or someone that has wronged you.
Either way, we are right. But it certainly doesn’t lay that simply.
I find with politics, especially with the judicial system and punishment in mind, we are so confused on the boundaries of right and wrong. This certainly obscures our little saying, and we can never truly find a punishment to fairly fit a crime. Never.
Let me explain myself. We can sit here all day and heatedly discuss the death penalty’s place in our society, and i would assume most would say it was barbaric, no? This is because we are outsiders. We have a level headed view and opinion on a matter that (and i assume again) hasn’t directly affected us personally. Now, i use the word personally with emphasis, for it is personal and passive that will set our minds apart.
Say, your mother, brother or close relative were murdered. The offender is caught, and awaiting verdict. Being a human being, i ask upon you to sit there and tell yourself truthfully that you would feel no sense of vengeance and wanting of pain for that person. It’s a task that yields predictable results. We cannot.
THIS is why we cannot be fair on this subject. When a subject is made personal, then it is lit up with a different shadow.
The main guide that i want to get across, is that rationality is not part of our human nature. It may appear so, we may believe we are – but it is impossible to have a mind with equal scales, not when we are directly part of the discussion at hand.