Quote from: Komo on October 14, 2010, 12:56 AM
Quote from: Cueshark on October 14, 2010, 12:10 AM
You made a blanket statement about your feelings towards criminals. You mentioned degrees of crime but you made it perfectly clear that you have no sympathy for criminals under any circumstances. I hope you agree with that.
Then when I gave you a scenario which was a little bit more complicated you had no choice but to back away from your original position and move a little bit further toward a middle ground.
I didn't back away from my original position, I still said I have no sympathy for her committing the crime... Can't you read mate? I would still have sympathy for her life, I would still think she's a criminal and should have no sympathy for the crime she committed...
I must also point out, if I caught this person stealing, I wouldn't tell on her, i'd keep it to myself, she obviously has to do what she wants to survive, but it doesn't make it right does it?
Quote from: Cueshark on October 14, 2010, 12:10 AMWhat's the big deal anyway? Can't you say something and then change your position slightly upon further consideration? It's not a sign of weakness nor stupidity to do so.
I didn't change my opinion though...
I don't understand quite what having 'no sympathy for the crime' means. You also say that you would have sympathy for her life. Isn't that basically saying that you'd have sympathy for her and as she is the criminal you are contradicting your statement below. It's also not really possible to have sympathy for a crime, it doesn't make much sense.
You originally said "ALL CRIMINALS deserve NO sympathy whatsoever, no matter what the crime they committed".
Now you are saying that you'll have sympathy for her life, but not the crime.
Conversations like this are about give and take. You seem more focused on protecting your position than engaging in a reasoned discussion about this controversial topic.
You came out guns blazing with a dead set view and an extreme view at that. You bolded your words to stress the point that NO sympathy would be given to criminals whatsoever, no matter what crime has been committed.
Now you are redefining your position, separating the person and the crime and admitting that it's possible for you to sympathise with one and not the other. It's fairly meaningless to do so and I think that the only reason you are doing this is because it means you can avoid having to retract your previous statements.
Taking such an extreme stance on this topic was perhaps a bit hasty on your part. The issue of crime, ethics, morality, capital punishment etc. We couldn't really of picked a more complicated issue to try and tackle in this forum.
We're dwelling on this one point.
If you're now saying that the person's 'life' would warrant sympathy then can you admit that the below statement you made earlier deserves to be either retracted or modified?
"ALL CRIMINALS deserve NO sympathy whatsoever, no matter what the crime they committed"