You could endlesly kill all people who mug, kill, rob or rape - but that is not a terrific solution.
I could make an argument for capital punishment but that isn't what I was talking about. Violence doesn't have to mean killing someone (kicking a would be rapist in the groin or punching him in the nose is still violence), and I'm not talking about administering a violent response in cold blood in response to crimes on this level but rather using violence to prevent them and the threat of possible violence to deter them. Would you just let an attacker do whatever he wants to you? If you have children would you not defend them, or even support someone else defending them if it requires a violent response to do so?
There are countries now (in Scandinavia, Japan, etc) where very few people mug, kill, rob or rape.
Very few is relative. They may have less crime than the US (although the extent this is true is exaggerated, and crime is growing in these places not shrinking.
Its not inconceivable that we can totally eliminate these kinds of abnormal behavior.
You can conceive of just about anything. Something can be extremely unlikely, even almost impossible without being inconceivable. Human nature hasn't change much since at least the dawn of civilization. The circumstances that many live in has changed a lot, but even with the best circumstances you get some crime. Its likely that crime will go down but it borders on impossible to eliminate crime in the next few years or the next few centuries. Maybe in a million years we will have evolved to non-violent species, but there isn't any particular reason to think it will happen, its just a possibility, not a certain destiny.
Basically, there is no alternative but to end violence - whether for good or bad.
That's just silly. Not only are there other possibilities, its likely that ending violence isn't even an available alternative. I can see why you think it is a desirable alternative if it is available, but I can assure you with near total confidence that neither you or I will ever see a world without violence. To think otherwise is living in a dream world, not reality. Its nice to hold on to dreams, but its also important to pay some attention to the real world.
Tim |
