Quote:
Originally Posted by larrymcg421
I find the "no sympathy" comments to be astounding. I don't expect everyone to agree with me that the death penalty should be outlawed. But I do expect any reasonable person to agree that what the kid did in this video did not deserve execution.
This seems to be the favorite form of argument in these threads, though. "If he didn't do x, then the cop wouldn't have done y". It's such a stupid argument, because you could make the y variable any punishment, no matter how severe, and it would still be true. "If he didn't disobey the officer, then his head wouldn't have been chopped off. I have no sympathy."
To me, I see a video where a kid didn't trust what the officer was doing and before getting out of the vehicle wanted to know why he was being pulled over and if he was under arrest. I don't think this warranted death nor do I think most people would expect this to lead to death. I have sympathy for the kid because he did not deserve to die. If you don't have sympathy for him, it's your right to have that opinion, but we're operating from a completely different set of moral values.
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I agree with you. The kid didn't deserve to die, and its sad and unfortunate. I have a lot of sympathy and empathy for the kids family and friends. The loss of life over something stupid like this is just mind blowing.
However, I do disagree that the argument is stupid. Intent matters. if the cop wanted to kill the kid he would had drawn his other weapon. Instead he drew a taser, and in my opinion wanted to give him a rough go of it. I do not think the cop intended to kill the kid, he just wanted to teach him a lesson. We can debate if the lesson was warranted, but I think that's a separate issue.
I don't know why disobeying a cop is right?