Sympathy for the devil
Apr. 20th, 2005 01:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apparentparadoxI don't know why, but lately I've been thinking about that guy in LA who was going to commit suicide and ended up causing a big train wreck. [OK, I've lately read that maybe he wasn't suicidal, but assume that he was for the sake of this set of arguments]
What must it feel like to be so depressed that you are suicidal, and then not follow through (as most, I think, don't -- at least the first time), and then to realize that your actions actually caused several others to die? What is the appropriate response to such an act?
Is death, which in some ways he wanted, an appropriate response? Would life imprisonment -- living with the knowledge that he caused 11 deaths -- be "cruel and inhuman" punishment?
I do think that he bears responsiblity for what happened. I can still sympathize with his plight. I just don't know what the right next step is.
What must it feel like to be so depressed that you are suicidal, and then not follow through (as most, I think, don't -- at least the first time), and then to realize that your actions actually caused several others to die? What is the appropriate response to such an act?
Is death, which in some ways he wanted, an appropriate response? Would life imprisonment -- living with the knowledge that he caused 11 deaths -- be "cruel and inhuman" punishment?
I do think that he bears responsiblity for what happened. I can still sympathize with his plight. I just don't know what the right next step is.