8th-grader killed by Texas police had pellet gun
where two police officers shot and killed a 12 year old boy because he had a pellet gun in school, and
where a women shot and killed an burglar with a 12-gauge shot gun because she was afraid for her baby, I've got to believe people aren't playing enough party games like Scruples or Taboo.
Round One: You're a police officer and are called to a school where you're told a 12 year old may have a gun. Do you:
a. Talk to the boy until the armored SWAT team arrives with rubber bullets.
b. Use your tear gas.
c. Find out if he needs help with his homework.
d. Fire a warning shot.
e. Kill the twerp. You were enjoying coffee and donuts before the call came in.
Round Two: You're a young mother with a 3-month old son and hear someone knock on the door and then break it in. Do you:
a. Shout out that you are a U.S. Navy Seal and have an AK-47 aimed at their naughty bits.
b. Tell the intruder that he's going to have to pay for the door.
c. Scare them away by making loud barking sounds.
d. Prepare boiling water on the stove and marbles on the floor.
d. Prepare boiling water on the stove and marbles on the floor.
e. Call 911 and, if they say "protect your baby", kill the first person you see by unloading a 12-gauge shot gun at them.
Anyone with any familiarity with party games knows that in both cases choice "e" will never get you any points…well, maybe, if you're playing in Texas or Oklahoma.
3 comments:
I hate to be the wet blanket here, but I have a few observations. Moral decsions are never as clear-cut as we would like them to be. As my buddy Bonhoeffer says, responsible acts are "performed wholly within in the domain of relativity, wholly in the twilight which the historical situation spreads over good and evil; it is performed in the midst of the innumerable perspectives in which every given phenomenon appears." Add to that the fact that these use of force cases often require split-second judgments in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving.
I don't know anything about the kid with the pellet gun, but the Oklahoma woman was an 18 year old with a 3-month old son, and her assailant had just broken open a locked door, pushed aside a couch which had been placed against the door as a barricade and was coming toward her armed with a knife. On these facts, I'm not willing to concede that it's obvious that she acted recklessly.
Also, how many people ask for a second opinion before they pull the trigger?
Throwing wet blankets, aka commenting, is what In Progress is all about. I wish more would do it.
The reports say the man broke open the door and started coming after her with a 12 inch knife. I don't know if that means he saw her armed ready to shoot or that as soon as he broke through the door she fired. I'm right with you with the complexity of making moral decisions. I guess that's why we have those kind of party games. (I'm sooo tempted to use smiley faces.) I wonder if she ever said anything first or considered firing at his feet or any number of non fatal attempts to deter him.
I know the current sentiment is "These bastards don't deserve to live. One for the good guys." I don't know enough about the situation to make a judgement, but, personally, I would have to be practically assured that I was going to die before I would kill someone.
Put another way, what would you do if you were breaking into someone's house and you heard, "I just called 911 and the police are on their way; also, I have a loaded shotgun and handgun. If you come through that door I will fire the shot gun."?
I don't know many who would continue through the door, but then, again, I wasn't there.
Post a Comment