Dylann Roof sentenced to death

[Shell B]

(Roof is evil, not crazy)

No offense, but it always amazes me that non religious persons resort to the old religious terminology for an easy answer to a complicated question. Yes, he did something evil, but he also seems to have a history of being mentally deranged. To what extent is for experts to decide. Also he arrived at doing what he did. That didn't come out of the blue and he certainly didn't consider it to be an evil act. That in itself should cry for closer analysis and a good hard look. Who or what made him go over that edge? Answering these questions may prevent the next Dylann Roof.

I'm all for removing people like that from society. The state is obliged to do that. In what way is a different question entirely.

Firstly, evil is not a religious term. Secondly, it's not an "easy answer." Thirdly, I refuse to excuse every asshole with a gun on the idea that he may have had a history of being "mentally deranged." There is a different between legitimate mental illness and deep hatred. Some people are just bad, you might say they are evil.

[Catholic_Lady]

I believe in evil, and I do agree with Shell that some people are just bad. I feel like nowadays we too often try to explain away every evil thing someone does as "mental illness." Sometimes it is that, yes, and it's always worthy of consideration. But plenty of other times, people really just do bad things bc they are bad people. Because they don't care about others, and they like to feel powerful, and hurting others makes them feel that way. And they like that. That's evil.

Nonetheless, if I hold the belief that every human life is inherently sacred, then I am obligated to hold the belief that the direct killing of another person is only morally permissible in cases of defense or in justified war. In other words, where the aim is not to kill, but to save innocent people from an aggressor. The death penalty just doesn't fall into that category anymore, since we now have the means of defending our society by keeping dangerous people locked up. So at the end of the day, when it comes to my views on the dp, it doesn't matter if someone is mentally ill or evil.

[vorlon13]

Am I alone in looking at Dylann, and then being aware of what he did, and thinking "What the FUCK?"

Appearance-wise, he looks 12, how many 12 year olds off 9 black people in an attempt to start a race war? (BTW, that's a page from Manson's play book)


There is an intense surreal aspect to the big picture of all that is Roof that is quite strikingly disturbing.

[abaris]

I believe in evil, and I do agree with Shell that some people are just bad.

I refuse to and refrain from using that word. For the simple reason that it doesn't explain what is happening and why it is happening. Whenever I hear the term evil or bad used in connection to a crime, I ask how that will help us to prevent similar crimes from happening. Evil or bad are killer arguments that smother every kind of discussion. And discussion, or more to the point, analysis, is the only thing that can work in terms of crime prevention.

I'm in no way an expert, but out of interest I've read a lot of works on criminal profiling and forensic psychology. They all agree that there is a point where a person turns into what you call evil. Before that there are several stages down that road. And at each one of them, the last explosion could have been prevented if someone had asked the right questions and had reacted in the right way.

Am I alone in looking at Dylann, and then being aware of what he did, and thinking "What the FUCK?"

Yeah, and why not? Totally different crime, but look at Eichmann at his trial in Jerusalem. Does he look like a mass murderer to you? Does Ted Bundy? Or the lesser known Jack Unterweger, who was a serial killer on two continents?

Looks say nothing about a person.

[vorlon13]

Eichman at least looked old enough to have done something during his life. Jesus, Roof could be standing in front of Washington Middle School and everyone would think he's waiting for his dad to stop by and take him to soccer practice.

[Anomalocaris]

Eichman at least looked old enough to have done something during his life.  Jesus, Roof could be standing in front of Washington Middle School and everyone would think he's waiting for his dad to stop by and take him to soccer practice.

Which only makes you suspect the rot goes deeper.

Dylan roof does not occur to me as an psychopath. He occurs to me as an product of certain aspect of the broader culture, perhaps aspects we like to pretend doesn't exist. He is not a ted buddy. He is more similar to Eichmann in this respect.

[Shell B]

Saying something is evil doesn't stop the conversation, unless you add some extra meaning to the word that doesn't exist. You can then ask what is evil, how does a person become evil, is he really an evil person or did he just do an evil thing. It's no different than someone saying he was crazy. Moreover, saying he had mental illness leaves the rest of people with mental illnesses thinking "either specify a mental illness that makes you a murderer or use another term." When you use mental illness as an excuse for people like this cunt, it gets people believing that those of us with mental illnesses are going to snap and murder people.

Bottom line, he was a fucking racist. This was a hate crime. If this was a case of "he snapped," he couldn't have planned the attack and sat there for nearly an hour before gunning down his victims in cold blood. This was calculated and racially motivated, the very antithesis of snapping. He's a horrible human being. They exist and he is one.

And, yes, Ted Bundy definitely looked like a serial killer.

[brewer]

I say send him to Mexico. Pay back's a bitch, right?

A couple of people have brought up his mental state and I think it is questionable based on his past history and his court behavior/statements. He may not know right from wrong. That will definitely be an appeal position. This sentence is in question. 

And being an asshole atheist, I'm going to ask, where was god? Church members, in a church, killer had been part of a church. An all powerful non intercession. god be praised! Oh, shit, I forgot. That stopped some 2000 years ago. My bad.

[LadyForCamus]

1.As for the concept of earning death. death cannot be earned it's not a currency nor is life a currency we have the right to spend

I look at it more as forfeiting your right to life.

[The Grand Nudger]

How do you forfeit an inalienable right? Don;t get me wrong, it;s easy to take a life, you just tie the fucker up and hit him with rocks. Hell, let the family do it.