Rape is good; state-sponsored murder is bad

[Enraged_Ape]

Every day I read at least two or three posts about some murderer or pedophile that read, to effect, "Well, I don't want them to be executed because that would be WRONG. I just want them to have a huge axe-murderer cellmate that will 'take care' of them until they die 'of natural causes' in the shower." If I read one more of these posts, I'm going to go absolutely ballistic. Nothing makes me crazier than this.

I swear that EVERY SINGLE THREAD about a criminal in the news has at least five or six of these nonsense posts.

Can someone please explain to me why it makes me morally superior somehow to wish rape on someone rather than a relatively pain-free death? I ask this absolutely sincerely, because I don't wish suffering on ANYONE, not even on the people who most deserve it.

Thank you and good day.

[RPM]

1. can't explain it to you...

but i agree with your sentiment.... its pretty bizarre.

(for the record - I am against prison rape, but for capital punishment)

[Enraged_Ape]

2. And I agree with you...

on both counts.

[Mugweed]

3. I wish rape AND a slow painful death on them.

I think that our curent methods of capital punishment aren't fitting. Don't they have to be cruel AND unusual to be rejected? Just pick something cruel that the Spanish Inquisitors used. It wouldn't be unusual, seeing as there was a history of that method being used regularly.

Who cares about moral superiority anyway?

[RPM]

4. moral superiority has nothing to do with it

All deprivations of life an liberty must comport with the standards of due process of law. Of course that only applies to government actors....

but when the government becomes complicit, or at least permissive, in what goes on with respect to prison rape, those doing the raping start to tread awfully close to being state actors (think the contractors at Abu Graib).

At the end of the day, supporting prison rape has nothing to do with moral high or low ground; allowing prison rape to happen with the 'benign' condescension of state prison officials deprives persons of their liberty not to have to perform sex acts on others. That the victims are prisoners shouldn't matter - this is a fundamental right (as I am sure any woman would be sure to mention). The question it boils down to is: are you on the side of law and order, or are you happy in a society that condones the rape of certain persons...

If it is the latter, will you mind if the society includes you in the group of persons suitable to rape?

[politicaholic]

5. I've been on this site for three years and I've seen maybe two of those...

posts. I agree with you that prison rape is horrible. I think capital punishment is horrible. I think that you shouldn't expect the critics of a convicted pedophile to wish any more mercy on him/her than they took on the child.

You're using the same stupid rhetoric and methods that republicans use to trash democrats.
1) Lie about the frequency/context in which statements are made.
2) Change the sentiment of the statements to an absolute ("You hate capital punishment and Loooooove rape!!!") just to get people to believe you're flimsy arguement.
3) Use your fabricated "oxymoron" to substantiate your view point.

I suggest you reconsider how you diseminate information before you slip into the "Rovian/Rush" slippery slope, and you start believing their message because it's so close to the methodology of your own.

[Enraged_Ape]

7. I disagree with you on the frequency of this kind of post

I've been on this board for four years, and I can tell you that it happens enough that I'm getting sick and tired of it.

I honestly don't understand why people would rather see someone subjected to prison rape than to death by lethal injection.

[RPM]

8. Seconded

There is a post like that on just about every thread that discusses the recent conviction of:

- a child molester
- a child abuser
- a rapist

and myriad other scoundrels.

They are never their own threads - just always some off-hand comment like:
- bubba will give him what he deserves
- i hope that that person has a good time in the shower
- he will make a nice bitch for someone in the joint

The range varies from one of "whatever, he's a bad guy" to "I hope that everyone makes him suffer in prison"

Somehow, people have some idea that prison justice is meted out as fairly as justice is in the legal system...

I would prefer the procedural safeguards of the court to the rule of the (prison) jungle.

On Edit - I have been here 3 years - there is at least a post like this every couple of weeks

[politicaholic]

9. There's a real possibility that it could be all talk...

it's a message board where people can say whatever they want to get a reaction. All those posters want to do is be recognized by saying an enflamatory statement. I've been known to do it myself. Just call them to task. Most likely they'll back down or not even answer.

[RPM]

10. perhaps

but saying "I'm gonna go hang me some niggers" or "I'm going to go rape some women", even if idle talk, is a bad thing as it gives the impression to many that such behavior is condonable.

And yes - i put prison rape on the level of those two aforementioned offenses.

[seabeyond]

6. you havent seen such a post from me

put them in jail. leave them in jail. and all that are housed should equally be protected from violence done onto them by others.

not going to happen, but i believe that should at least be the intent

i have no desire to hurt another person. just not who i am

[VelmaD]

11. I work in the juvenile justice system...

and I just wanted to applaud you for this post. You are absolutely right...it is sickening whenever someone implies that another human being somehow deserves to be beaten and raped...even if that person is in jail.

Not everyone on DU is equally progressive and you still find plenty of knee-jerk reactions here.

[Moderator]

12. Locking.

The title line to this post appears intentionally inflammatory and insensitive.