You come across as a defeatist, that is perhaps not completely correct or fair, but I am struggling to find another term. If you are in anarchy ridden hellscape you stop resisting chaos because your system defined role is not as an active enforcer of the system but just a passive element, this is somewhat in contrast to your resentment of being... a mindless cog.Norithics said:I, am a slightly overweight original fiction author and professional illustrator. I have no combat skills, no background in criminal justice, and suffer from a functioned but bothersome paranoid schizophrenia. Yet at this point in time, the task of deciding who must live or die in order to better the peace among men has fallen... to me.O maestre said:Where you might see yourself as stoic, I see you as indecisive, by your reasoning we shouldn't punish criminals at all, or remove them from society because they are a "test" on our collective civilisation. Threats like a serial killer or a fanatic with a bomb don't get less severe through reasonable dialogue which I can assume would be your solution to threats, if I am wrong than please clarify.
Unless you are an absolute pacifist or anarchist and would not react to any threat, personal or societal I do not understand your stance. Criminal behaviour whether it is brought about in the form of an insane mass murderer or a terrorist or a thief, and what is essentially all of that in this case has to be dealt with.
The system has clearly failed already. If it's up to me to end the life of a charismatic lunatic, then what am I inside of society for? It seems to me like I would be no worse out among the forest, where there are no laws to begin with. If they can't help this man, then either he is beyond help or the system is lacking. If they can't stop criminals from breaking him out, then I live in an anarchistic hellscape already. Whether or not I decide to kill this man, the entire city framing him is going to continue to be a stewing pot of unbelievable suffering. If I get rid of him, there will assuredly be another waiting to fill the void and people will perish. If I do nothing, he will retain his place and people will perish. What about the next time the system fails? Will I be called upon to be the ill-informed executioner again?? This seems unsustainable.
So, no. Essentially you've stated the opposite of what I believe. I think that a system is the only real way to rehabilitate or control criminals and the mentally ill. The larger systems available have to be the answer, because once it falls down to people like me, it's too late. It's broken. There's no point.
Let me be clear I understand, or at least I think I understand your stance, but I thoroughly disagree. You reason that not doing anything will just end up having another mad men spring up... you are most likely right, but if we follow your reasoning we would could conclude that fighting crime is meaningless, and that we can just as well abolish the criminal system. I don't believe that's what you want, I don't get the anarchist vibe from you, and I realize that Gotham is a comic book city and an extreme example, but in the case of the Joker you are hardly ill-informed.
Being a citizen should not consist of merely being a victim of a system, it should be in active participation within civilization and being a part of the system. When the system is at its breaking point, it is critical that even the small chain links are essential to holding it all together.
I never thought about it before, but in some way Batman has his purpose especially in a city where citizens have given up fighting back. Granted it is not your responsibility, not your assigned responsibility anyway.