I think there's a debate to be considered, and it's losers like this that make it a relevant discussion. The debate is not, contrary to the hooting commenters' lurid prison-rape fantasizing, how hard this idiot should be buttfucked by his cellmates.
A saner debate should focus on alternative, more productive modes of punishment, that lessen the burden on the taxpayers, endanger fewer children (and potential children), and don't irredeemably ruin this stupid sod's life, while still providing a punishment commensurate with the crime. It makes more sense to let these two morons out tomorrow with a couple years probation, taking them first to Planned Parenthood, for a vasectomy for him and at least a Norplant for her. In fact, it'd be cheaper in the long run to pay for tubal ligations, though that may be too invasive.
You could "on the one hand/on the other hand" this stuff for days, in addition to running the risk of bringing the would-be eugenicists out of the woodwork. But we're not talking about sterilizing retards or particular ethnic groups -- there's nothing irreversible suggested here, and frankly, with the public social safety network frayed almost irreparably at this point, it merits consideration.
The first rule of triage is to stop the patient's bleeding, even if it requires drastic measures. And when you have horrible people doing horrible things to their children, and having more and more children on the public dime because they neither know nor care enough to exercise a modicum of common sense or impulse control, maybe some "positive coercion" is called for. A mitigated sentence and maybe five hundred bucks to get high on seems a reasonable trade-off all the way around. It's worth it to halt their careless fecundity.
I realize I can be something of a hard-ass on this subject, and I don't apologize for it. I have no patience for these fucking people, and I sure as hell have only basic levels of compassion for them. I reserve that for the hapless kids they bring into the world and mistreat, passing on their bullshit to the next generation. I get the frustration that conservatives (and many liberals and moderates as well) feel about this sort of shit -- nobody likes feeling like they're doing all the right things, working hard, taking care of their families, only to also have to pay freight on these fuckers.
But I don't see the point in tossing them in prison, only to come out more incorrigible and less employable. Stop the bleeding, provide a limit to the cost they exact from society, without ever giving anything back. The system as it stands now fails everyone involved -- the people who work in it, seeing it become an exercise in futility; the taxpayers who pay into it, never getting results; the "parents" who know how to milk it; and most of all, the kids who have no control in their fate. This might be worth a try, if only because it would at least lessen the number of potential victims. Give me some feedback on this -- am I being an uncompassionate fascist asshole, or what?
5 comments:
Something intuitively touchy on a gut level here, morally. (In our culture, at least.)
But someday we will all have to face our most fundamental world problem: overpopulation. It will bring much worse horrors to us than voluntary, reversible birth control in exchange for less jail time.
Good to talk it over, at least: what can we do?....
The thing is, I'm sure you know your ideas would never fly politically at present.
I am impressed by the ass beating he received in jail.
Attempting to sell a 6 month old to a woman in front of Wallyworld doesn't piss me off as much as evil shit like beating a 6 month old to death for crying.
I wish there was a mechanism for sterilizing the overly fertile stupid. Good gravy do I.
Attempting to sell a 6 month old to a woman in front of Wallyworld doesn't piss me off as much as evil shit like beating a 6 month old to death for crying.
Oh yeah. The second one just needs to be taken out back and shot, over, done, ended, dumped unceremoniously in a hastily-dug ditch. That's a no-brainer; that's someone who has never and could never contribute anything other than pain to his fellow human beings.
The thing is, I'm sure you know your ideas would never fly politically at present.
Yes, but I think this is an idea that could be made politically palatable very easily. As broke as everyone is these days, if we pass around the hat, most people can find ten bucks to throw in to neutralize the hardcore fucktards.
The main protest will be that we just can't give the state such power. Well, bullshit -- we give the state all kinds of power, from garnishing wages of deadbeat dads to auctioning off the homes of tax evaders to blowing up wedding parties halfway around the world with remote-controlled airplanes.
The state is already entrusted with the power to take away the children of unconscionable dipshits, so why not a modest bribe to curb further dipshittery?
Hear, hear. I work in mental health in an inner city psych hospital. I can't tell you how much pain and misery is visited on children (and then by them on their children) by mentally deficient junkies,criminals and scumbags with no impulse control and a heavy dose of sociopathy. The problem seems utterly heartbreaking and intractable.
My only question is, why do we have to give them money? Some of the other examples you cite of the state's power don't involve persuading the wrongdoers with a cash payoff, so why with these guys?
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