Uplifting News

A passably substantive argument! Though you couldn't resist a patronizing note of condescension right at the end. To me that suggests insecurity and so undermines your point.

I do know history, more or less (in fact I have a degree in it). And I take different lessons from it than you. The French revolution had two phases, non-violent and violent. Almost all of the useful reforms happened in the first phase. The mass spilling of blood was unnecessary, caused by impatient mobs who just could not wait for those reforms to bear fruit, and who had other unproductive agendas such as vengeance. What is certain is that 200 years later many European countries have achieved the same level of economic development and social justice as France (some of them even more so) without any need for a violent revolution.

As for civil rights, to me that's even clearer: it was not violence but non-violence - boycotts, sit-ins, marches - that won over public opinion and so made it impossible for the Kennedy-Johnson government to continue doing nothing.

I think MLK would have been horrified to see the rhetoric you deploy to defend the indefensible. I certainly am.

This is disingenuous. You know very well why the story only concerns this particular prisoner, who is in all likelihood a murderer. And not, say, the one the nextdoor cell who dealt some marijuana.

To be clear, I do agree that it good he's getting treated properly.

That's very sad but it doesn't fit the definition of murder.

Will you post comments asking where the justice is for this lost life?

No, because I think murder (first degree, premeditated, cold-blooded) is worse than that, and I think it's a problem that people are excusing it.

It's clear as day to me what's going on here. You are all angry and frustrated. You're not murderers yourselves and you wouldn't do what "Luigi" did, partly because you're too cowardly, mostly because you're better people than him. But the absence of "justice" (just quoting you) in America's dysfunctional healthcare system is so egregious and so shocking (I agree: it is), that you feel the need to strike out somehow, to show how strongly you feel. And so you come here and excuse murder. Coz, wow, speaking up for an actual murder! That's pretty big, right? Basically it's a mutual support session for people who feel bad - like, really bad - about the state of American healthcare.

Personally, I don't think that excusing murder is going to get you a better healthcare system. In fact the opposite is far more likely: if political assassinations are normalized, an authoritarian backlash becomes all but inevitable. And that will push healthcare right down the list of your priorities. And all for what? For the fleeting buzz of perverted righteousness that you get from excusing the inexcusable. It's not worth it.

But mass downvoting is a form of brigading, just look it up. And now you're adding insults to the mix. Well done.

Again, I personally could not care less. But by behaving like this, you're not encouraging people to share their thoughts (unless of course they agree with you, that's different!). And you're certainly not creating an "uplifting" community.

To be clear, I don't care about your downvotes. I DO care that you're excusing the inexcusable and helping to normalize political violence.

Yawn.