Man Shoots Girlfriend Over Zombie Argument

[Angrboda]

I've never felt like any of my lovers or boyfriends were going to shoot me over a disagreement.

There's an interesting passage from Pinker's Better Angels Of Our Nature in which he makes the case that many of the violent homicides of people in the lower socio-economic strata are a result of being disenfranchised from the systems of government and justice to which whitebreads feel they can appeal, and so these violent crimes are actually motivated by a sense of injustice, in a world in which they see the system as having abandoned them to their own ends, and having to take matters into their own hands. (Any woman who has had to file a restraining order against an abusive partner can likely identify.) I'm not making that specific case with regard to this individual, but people in different classes of society have different norms regarding conflict resolution, anger management and so on. One of the points he draws attention to is how many times, these violent criminals don't try to hide their crime or flee; they call the police, and wait patiently for them to come. We see in this instance, he even drove her to the hospital. When making judgements about other people, we need to take all factors into account, not just those that would apply to us if we were in their shoes (which many of us would never be, so the comparison is somewhat absurd on the face of it).


I'll scan that passage from Pinker at another time. I'm feeling like shit at the moment. (I think my first winter depression is here.)