[Buddha-l] Re: Buddhist social deconstruction

[curt]

Dan Lusthaus wrote:
>
> The idea that
> inflicting dangerous predators on a defenseless populace is an act of
> compassion is perverse. 

I totally agree. This is why people need to stop voting for Republicans. 
Or isn't that what you meant by "inflicting dangerous predators on a 
defenseless populace"?

> The idea that a kiss on the cheek and a mantra will
> extirpate dangerous criminal tendencies from all criminals is, itself,
> criminal.
>   

I am not familiar with this approach. Is it something Foucault dreamed 
up? In fact, however, it sounds far more likely to succeed in 
"extirpating dangerous criminal tendencies from all criminals" than the 
present legal system in the United States.

> If you've never had a conversation with someone that you quickly realize is
> willing and able to kill you right there on the spot should the merest shift
> in wind or mood strike him, a realization that makes you tremble to your
> depths, then you are not in a position to fully appreciate what is at stake.
>   

This sounds like something that Gareth Keenan (from the BBC comedy The 
Office [http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/]) would say. He would 
follow it up by offering to demonstrate five different ways to kill a 
man using a napkin dispenser and a paper clip. Were you ever in the 
Territorial Army, Dan?

> The necessity of prisons is not to be conflated with:
> 1. issues of false imprisonment,
>   

If one does not "conflate" "the necessity of prisons" with the "issue of 
false imprisonment" then how does one pretend to know that the bad guys 
are in prison and the good guys are not? Isn't that the point?

The real question is - who is Dan arguing with? Who has said any of the 
things that Dan is arguing against?

My own personal view is that society has both the right and the 
responsibility to punish people who "do wrong" and to protect "the rest 
of us". I know of no evidence that the American system of justice does 
anything of this sort.

- Curt