re: #152 dr. luba

Intellectually I agree with you. I am opposed to capital punishment, for many reasons, not least of which is that I am not a killer, and supporting capital punishment makes me one. It makes me no better than those I would condemn.

But beneath my intellectualism and morality there is a bit of primal blood lust that wants to kill the bastards. String them up. Make them suffer as they made other people suffer. My people. Eye for an eye.

Civilization is about subsuming those urges for revenge, and I do. But I’m not a saint, and they’re still there, down in the depths of my primitive soul. I can understand when others, closer to the situation, do not. Would I have strung up Mussolini myself? No. But I think I understand why those who did so did.

Going through the process of trial will also be much more of a deterrent than being lynched, as it will expose the defendants for what they are, the deeds they did, and not give them any “out” as to having been disposed of by the “fascists”.