Consequenses and pity
I have a question. Who besides me felt a little queasy seeing the deathwatch on TV for "Tookie" Williams? Who besides me felt even more queasy and even sorry for him when reading this? It was like watching the prison tape that came out soon after Saddam Hussein's capture. Watching a vicious, cruel, evil, maniacal tyrant - you couldn't help it. A twinge of pity hit.
Of course, the reasonable side of me remembered: it's too bad Williams obviously didn't have those feelings, or none of this would have even happened. It's a good thing people - his jury, the Supreme Court, Schwarzenegger - chose to remember the cruel way in which his victims died - instead of thinking about the painless, sterile, just way he would. I think that's the difference. One side thinks only of the consequences. The other side chooses to remember what brought about those consequences.
posted by Rebekah @ 2:08 PM
