Don’t Kill Him Cause C Lo Said So
Apart from the profanity and calling me an embarrassment, I agree with you. Vengeance is not Justice. Amen.
Here’s my point: The way people in America deal with moral, social, and political issues in the public arena has turned into such a farce that it is disconcerting. Of course C Lo Green is entitled to express his opposition to the death penalty, just as you or I have that same freedom. What makes me uncomfortable is the gravity that is placed on that one person’s statement—that suddenly C Lo’s voice matters more because he is famous than if it were just me standing up and saying “the death penalty is wrong.” Why should one care any more about what a man famous for a song call “F*ck You” has to say about Troy Davis’ right to live than what the 360 thousand other people who signed the petition did? Does it add an extra measure of credibility or validity to the argument? Why did the New York Times even feel the need to mention it?
For me, this kind of spectacle diminishes the reality of the matter at hand; Davis’ execution somehow becomes glamorized and desensitized. When we give an issue to Hollywood (or the record industry, or whatever), we allow it to be shaped and processed into a neat made-for-consumption package. Like, if you’ve watched enough Tom Selleck movies where he’s wielding a gun, suddenly the NRA commercials make sense; owning and using a gun has repercussions consistent with what you’ve seen on the screen, and not what actually happens in real life.
It’s the exploitation of celebrity in the arena of public policy, and the willingness of many to take advantage of a media-obsessed culture to promote an agenda that I’m opposed to, not the efforts to stay Troy Davis’ execution.
Well this is a fucking embarrassment to all Wellesley alums. Why the fuck not should C Lo Green have a right to his opinion about “the enforcement of public policy?” Fact: the death penalty kills innocent people in the name of ALL AMERICANS. C Lo Green is an American. So is Jimmy Carter, Bob fucking Barr of all people, and Mia Farrow. All of whom spoke out on Troy’s behalf.
It is a dangerous thing to grant the State any right you would not grant an individual. The power over life and death is something we clearly do not give individuals. We do not allow the fathers of convicted rapist’s victims to beat the convicted in anger and frustration. We do not even give license to the victims of theft to later rob their robber. Yet, because some one demands a life be taken for a life taken we have the state slay a man.
When this nation, or one of these united states, kills someone they do so in the name of the people. Do not insist that I kill a man. That’s what the people who oppose the death penalty, like myself, are asking. I don’t need there to be any doubt of a man’s guilt to still believe I would rather not kill a man. Yet, last night, because of the baying of dogs and the whines of jackals, I killed a man named Troy Davis against my will and wishes and consent.
Vengeance is not justice. These are two entirely different things and should not be confused so often by so many. It is surrender to the demand for vengeance that corrupts our justice, not justice that diminishes vengeance.
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wtflanksteak reblogged this from wellesleyunderground and added:
You don’t have my permission to use my real name. I don’t know who you think are.
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wtflanksteak reblogged this from wellesleyunderground and added:
The spelling of his name. It’s in the article.
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satyabear liked this
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wellesleyunderground reblogged this from wtflanksteak and added:
Thank you @wtflanksteak, for this wonderful contribution to the discussion. What exactly
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lioneltwain liked this
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wtflanksteak reblogged this from wellesleyunderground and added:
It’s Cee-lo, morons.
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wellesleyunderground reblogged this from vivvo
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vivvo reblogged this from wellesleyunderground and added:
Lo Green’s opinion...America, which ostensibly you’re not. And, okay, I get your point...
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misplacedmodernist submitted this to wellesleyunderground
