-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Botham Jean's brother embraces Amber Guyger after she was sentenced 10 years for the murder of his brother
- Thread starter Deleted member 18944
- Start date
This is pretty delusional. Dunno how anyone can seriously argue this when reports have shown that black people are consistently punished more harshly than white people for equivalent crimes. Not to mention he police angle.
It's not a hypothetical when we literally live in a system where black and brown people are punished more harshly than white people for the same crime. It's not a hypothetical in a society where media often works in the interests of white supremacy and black villainization by having disparities in how they portray black and white criminals (2) (3). We consider it because it happens. It's already and continues to be given serious thought because it is a pattern. It's a reality of our society built on white supremacy and further galvanized by police worship.
Last edited:
If individual people want to practice radical forgiveness, then whatever, OK. But as a broad policy or moral position, this idea of erasing culpability and injustice by role-playing Christ, or whatever, is foolish in a society where bullies, bigots, and the selfish would crush every last trace of goodness out of their fellow human beings if they were allowed to run rampant.
You can't eradicate cruelty, violence, and exploitation by hugging the meanness out of people. Humanity is still a rather primitive species that can't be trusted to be nice without penalties to keep antisocial behavior in check, as well as rewards for being good.
Cuddling with someone who has broken the social contract in a way that profoundly impacts your life and your family's lives is not my idea of making a better world. We can acknowledge the humanity of criminals, and the deterministic factors that influenced their actions, without naively believing that good people should turn the other cheek and love their enemies.
You can't eradicate cruelty, violence, and exploitation by hugging the meanness out of people. Humanity is still a rather primitive species that can't be trusted to be nice without penalties to keep antisocial behavior in check, as well as rewards for being good.
Cuddling with someone who has broken the social contract in a way that profoundly impacts your life and your family's lives is not my idea of making a better world. We can acknowledge the humanity of criminals, and the deterministic factors that influenced their actions, without naively believing that good people should turn the other cheek and love their enemies.
Exactly how I feel. The focus of the media & society at large on the saccharine and digestible aspects of this situation is gross to me specifically because it feels so much like trying to establish a feel good narrative button to this tragedy for the sake of a clean separation to avoid tackling the most necessary things to highlight. The "Blue Lives Matter" crowd isn't going to be moved by this display of forgiveness yet that attitude is completely relevant and intertwined in this case as pointed out by suunpiece's exposure of those ideals within Amber specifically in this case. And yet this sweet forgiveness story gets more play and eclipses the victim alongside the issues regarding police brutality, bigoted ideals in law enforcement and disposeablility of black bodies we should be having an ongoing conversation about.
its not calculated murder (AFAIK), but it aint a mistake either
if you point a gun at someone and shoot directly at them as a 'deterrent' or whatever the hell, its not an accident that they get shot
The man was showing forgiveness towards her, as God would have it as he is also forgiving. And honestly, we should love our enemies. It's better than harboring bitterness and hatred towards another person. It's by faith that you can be truly good.
Faith should never be considered when measuring if a person is good or bad.
Ferrs is right on the money. Faith and forgiveness have nothing to do with actually addressing the underlying problem of systemic bigotry that allows cops like Amber to exist unchallenged until a black person dies in the first place. Being faithful has nothing to do with being good. There are shelves on shelves of books about how multiple religions and religious people within are still capable of causing harm individually and systematically. Doing the right thing and doing the work to make sure others do the right thing is capable of happening with faith involved or not. Empathy and effort are what is required for change and there's noting bitter or hateful about black and brown people being furious that the realities of oppression get overshadowed by acts of unearned forgiveness. We don't have to meet oppression & injustice with civility & clam nor should we be expected to due to vague notions of "harboring bitterness" otherwise. Jean's brother is entitled to his choice to forgive and other black people are entitled to their choice to not forgive and not forget.
This view is nice and all until you realize that you're implying :
a. You can't be truly good without faith. Which is honestly super bigoted towards people who don't share your faith.
b. You're saying that conversely, a man would be bad for being angry at the racist cop who murdered his brother.
c. And generally, you should love and always forgive your enemy, because that has worked so well against racism so far.
It's the mindset of people that love those "KKK member is reformed thanks to black friend" type stories and use them as a bludgeon whenever black people met out violence to violent oppressors (i.e. "Don't punch Nazis", "Have you tried talking to them instead of calling them racist", etc. rhetoric). Catholicism, among the largest organized religions in modern day, filled with people calling and considering themselves faithful, historically and currently is stacked with sexual abusers moved around like chess pieces to avoid accountability and justice. Faith has nothing to do with righteousness or social progress.
We are entitled to our choices-we have free will, after all.
I'd say otherwise, since what one believes in is a factor behind a person's actions. It may not be faith in God, but in the world or anything else that is arbitrary. To quote the Bible, Matthew 7: "...every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits."
You can do good deeds without having faith, but your decisions are still based out of your beliefs-faith. Your faith can be put in this world, or the Lord. A man would not be considered sinful if he was angry, but he would be if he acted out on his anger in a way that is unpleasing to God, such as exacting your own revenge or unleashing it on someone who is undeserving. And for C, yeah :) To quote Romans 12,
... kind of a weak response.
Yeah the religious faith and forgiveness doesn't help during the sentencing of people of color, so whatever.
Amber murdered a dude but it's all good she was forgiven by the victim's family and will come out the other side a better person. She'll probably be a model prisoner, get out in 7 years, and be able to make a life for herself doing public speaking and restorative justice training. Oh, and the guy she killed wasn't an angel so not a huge loss, right?
So frustrating.
Amber murdered a dude but it's all good she was forgiven by the victim's family and will come out the other side a better person. She'll probably be a model prisoner, get out in 7 years, and be able to make a life for herself doing public speaking and restorative justice training. Oh, and the guy she killed wasn't an angel so not a huge loss, right?
So frustrating.