Quote:
Originally Posted by taosaur
With events like this one, it seems like people split two ways: some people only consider whose fault it is and how they should be punished, and others think about how to understand it and relate it to larger trends. When the two groups hear each other, wires get crossed and the 'enforcers' think the 'sociologists' are misattributing blame, while the 'sociologists' think the 'enforcers' are misunderstanding causality.
|
It may seem that way to you. Not to me. I tend to look at both what actually happened as well as the big picture. And, I try to keep both in perspective.
The people who like to argue about social vs. individual responsibility will generally twist the facts of any event to try to make their point. A man who had his weapon legally for ten years becomes someone for whom it was "far too easy" to get a gun. A person who was probably mentally ill becomes a whole raft of criminals roaming the streets.
I have been a victim of violent crime. I certainly didn't invite it to happen, unless someone wants to trot out the idea that lying in your own bed behind a locked door is an invitation to be assaulted. Not to certain how I should have been more "assertive" while I was fast asleep, but I did manage to survive, so I guess I did something right.
I certainly never thought to blame society for the crime perpetrated on me. I also didn't start seeing rapists around every street corner. I did what, in my opinion, more people should do .... I survived, dealt with the thing that had been done to me and the person who did it, and got on with my life.
Now that we've considered how things seem to you, I'll tell you how they seem to me. It seems to me that a lot of the people who like to debate violent crime don't know all that much about it and have probably never experienced it.