"It's okay, you didn't have a choice"
The police break onto the scene, facing off against the psychopath they've been chasing all episode. They take him down, but along with him they arrest the person or people he has manipulated into doing his dirty work. Or they get to a scene moments too late to stop the crisis, but the victim has managed to overcome the criminal and kill him. In both cases the officers try to soothe the "innocent" party by saying, "It's okay, you didn't have a choice."
But is that really true?
Just take a minute and imagine yourself in a similar situation. A psychopathic killer abducts you, puts a gun to your head, hands you a knife and says, "Stab that guy," indicating a man he has trapped in front of you. What choices do you have here? Not many, but still some. First, though dangerous and unlikely to be successful, you turn on the psychopath. Kill him, overpower him; you decide what feels right to you. Of course if you kill him that still makes you a murderer. But if that's your choice, so be it, because it's your choice. Second option, do what he says and stab the guy. Again, if you kill him, that's on you. Why? Because your last option is to refuse. Yes, this most likely results in him pulling the trigger on you, but your conscience stays clean.
A similar set of options can be applied to a self-defence killing. You still have every opportunity to decide to die and remain innocent rather than to live and be guilty of murder.
And, hey, if you can get out of either of these situations alive without killing anyone, then kudos to you! Although I hope none of you ever do end up in such a situation. This is all hypothetical, remember?
I know that it is human instinct to want to survive. And humans are selfish creatures, so we'd rather save ourselves first and think about others later...especially when our lives are threatened. But can we really excuse those who choose to kill in these situations? Thankfully the courts do not. They are lenient, understandably, but they don't let people get away with these things. Yet we hear that line over and over: "you didn't have a choice." It's as if somehow one person's life matters more than another. Maybe that's the thing that truly disgusts me about the statement, even more than the fact that it deflects blame from the person who committed the crime. What we convey when we say these words is the idea that we are justified in committing a wrong against another human being somehow because our own lives matter more than theirs. If we live in a world where people still believe such things, it's no wonder there is still so much hatred and violence. And it makes it hard to draw the line between what is acceptable and what is wrong.
But is that really true?
Just take a minute and imagine yourself in a similar situation. A psychopathic killer abducts you, puts a gun to your head, hands you a knife and says, "Stab that guy," indicating a man he has trapped in front of you. What choices do you have here? Not many, but still some. First, though dangerous and unlikely to be successful, you turn on the psychopath. Kill him, overpower him; you decide what feels right to you. Of course if you kill him that still makes you a murderer. But if that's your choice, so be it, because it's your choice. Second option, do what he says and stab the guy. Again, if you kill him, that's on you. Why? Because your last option is to refuse. Yes, this most likely results in him pulling the trigger on you, but your conscience stays clean.
A similar set of options can be applied to a self-defence killing. You still have every opportunity to decide to die and remain innocent rather than to live and be guilty of murder.
And, hey, if you can get out of either of these situations alive without killing anyone, then kudos to you! Although I hope none of you ever do end up in such a situation. This is all hypothetical, remember?
I know that it is human instinct to want to survive. And humans are selfish creatures, so we'd rather save ourselves first and think about others later...especially when our lives are threatened. But can we really excuse those who choose to kill in these situations? Thankfully the courts do not. They are lenient, understandably, but they don't let people get away with these things. Yet we hear that line over and over: "you didn't have a choice." It's as if somehow one person's life matters more than another. Maybe that's the thing that truly disgusts me about the statement, even more than the fact that it deflects blame from the person who committed the crime. What we convey when we say these words is the idea that we are justified in committing a wrong against another human being somehow because our own lives matter more than theirs. If we live in a world where people still believe such things, it's no wonder there is still so much hatred and violence. And it makes it hard to draw the line between what is acceptable and what is wrong.
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