Nex Benedict died one day after a fight in a school bathroom. Their mother Sue Benedict tells Bevan Hurley that the gender fluid teenager endured more than a year of abuse simply for being who they were
I have to admit, one of my first emotional responses was anger. I want vengeance. When will we see the day the bullies, abusers, murderers, and their enablers receive justice?
Not civilized "justice" in court rooms, on pieces of paper, with well-dressed men and women arguing politely over legal arcana.
Blood for blood. There should be a mortal fear that if they harm one hair on our heads, something worse will happen to them by far.
Don't tell me this won't bring anyone back. Don't tell me to be better than our enemies. If you will assault someone over their skin color, gender, sexual orientation, you don't deserve the breath of life.
The problem with mob justice is that it can be leveraged directly in to fascism. This is exactly what happened with the French Revolution and the Soviet one. In both cases valid anger against oppression was directed in to paranoia that allowed for the reestablishment of an authoritarian order instead of liberation. Anger is foolish and easily manipulated. That's why it's the only emotion the right wants anyone to experience. That's why it's the only emotion patriarchy allows men to express.
Anger is good for destroying things. Some things need to be destroyed. But those things that need to be destroyed are systems, not people.
Anger is activating and should absolutely drive you to action, but the action you take shouldn't also be decided by the anger. Let anger wake you up, and compassion guide the action you take.
History repeats itself, at least most of the time. That's why we should learn from the past because humans haven't changed that much in the way we think under certain circumstances.
No, I'm sorry, if a person was bullied for a year, that was the time for "due process" to protect them and society by preventing further harm. Now it is too late.
They caused someone to die by their violent actions, I am fully in favor of violent retaliation here, and as I said not looking to be convinced otherwise.
There are some things our society gets right, and some things it gets wrong. Passivity in the face of violence is a mistake IMO.
It's never too late for justice to be done. Though more of it has to done the later it is left. No one is talking passivity here. Everyone wants something done this time and done sooner next time.
Yeah, and if you remove justice by due process by installing fascist bigots in all positions of the judicial system, then all you're left with is mob justice. And we ought to be angry about that too.
It's a social contract thing. Conservatives insist on being granted all of the benefits you get by signing an accord with the rest of us, but then act as though they are exempt from it's requirements.
As far as I'm concerned, they aren't covered by the agreement anymore, and should be deprived of any protection offered by it.