Prez wrote on Sep 12, 2024, 22:53:
I will never, ever agree that certain people just need to die. That will sometimes be the only option left for the greater good, but I will not wish death on anyone, ever. As Tolkien prophetically said: "Many that live deserve death and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the wise cannot see all ends."

EVERYONE deserves a chance at redemption.

That's great and all from Tolkien but it's one thing to sit on your ass in a cozy room pounding away on a typewriter imagining clean scenarios that will never exist in the real word and quite another to watch people harm or kill other people simply due to the color of their skin, their gender, what is or is not underneath their pants, or any other characteristic. It's really easy to preach the moral high ground when a person has never gone face to face and toe to toe with the ugliest humanity has to offer*.

Redemption is when you are presented the opportunity to redress a mistake that you've made that affects others. It is not a get out of jail free card from the willful intent to damage or destroy another person based upon one's warped ideology or blatant disregard for the safety of others.Not now. Not ever. You (general "you"), as an adult, have every opportunity to change your ideology before you permanently impact another person. There is every opportunity to do so in every minute of the day. When you choose not, when you choose to injure, harass, or kill another human being because of that ideology, you're pretty fucking far from redeemable in my world. If society is willing to put down a dog that has bitten someone, it should be pretty damn well OK with the same approach to a human being who's done much worse.

*I am familiar with Tolkien's participation in the Battle of the Somme. His participation involved sitting his ass in the rear twice and serving as a signals officer for a brief amount of time before contracting trench fever and being sent back to Britain.