Freeday 2 January 2004

Pic of the day: Screenshot from Dark Age of Camelot. It is scientifically proved that violence in computer games does not lead to violence in real life. The opposite is not proved: That violence in real life does not lead to violence in computer games, Although the link may be tenuous ...

Righteous anger

A little while before Christmas, there was an event that shook up our peaceful little nation of Norway. In a village in Froland, a little further east here on the south coast, a car thief was killed. In the night, he stole a car from a home where lived a father with his grown-up son. They both ran out, armed with guns, and the thief was shot dead in the car. It is generally accepted that the son fired the deadly shots with a rifle. What is more uncertain is whether he really did this to save his father's life, the way the father has told.

At the burial, the church was packed; but it is uncertain how much of this was sympathy with the young career criminal and his family, and how much was curiosity: Perhaps Norway's most famous defense lawyer had invited himself to speak at the burial, despite not being involved in the case. He'll certainly not be the defendant's counsel this time. On the contrary, he expressed shock and horror at how the murderer was hailed as a hero.

Well, say I, that's because the murderer was a hero. In a neighborhood where common working people lived in fear of encroaching criminal gangs, the police ignored the problem. The only way to stop the plague was with blood. They could have waited till one of the drugged hoodlums broke into a home and attacked the people who lived there; this is what usually happens. Instead, this man chose to let the criminal bleed. Don't think this is a choice made lightly. Friends of the deceased have already threatened to kill the family and destroy the house. This just proves that the job is not finished. More criminals should be killed. The more, the better. (At least as long as it's not anyone I know.)

***

There are 6 billion people on this planet now. If there has ever been a good time to clean up, it is now. Even if we kill all dangerous criminals down to drunken drivers, there will be plenty of people left. It will not disrupt the functioning of society; on the contrary, it is the single most effective economic stimulus we can give our nation, as each junkie destroys the work of, on average, 40 honest men and women. Add the benefit of people once again being able to walk freely around after dark, and women taking a taxi without fear of being raped. Of course it is unpopular with the criminals, but they should have thought of that before making it their life career to cause fear and suffering.

Too long have the authorities turned the other cheek. That is not the job of police and politicians. Government should be a cause of fear for those who do evil, as the apostle Paul so nicely puts it: "Authority does not carry the sword in vain." It should not have been necessary for private citizens to wage war on crime. This only happens because the government has failed its primary function, to keep the other thieves down. Those who get the privilege of shearing the sheep, also have the obligation of protecting them from the wolves.

Criminals are humans too. But they are not very good humans, and humans are not currently in short supply. Let the streets run red with the blood of thieves and robbers, arsonists and rapists! Let their corpses hang from the lamp posts! Support your local fascist militia!

OK, got a bit carried away there. But I sure can understand the guy. If you didn't think your car was more important than some stranger's life, you would have sold it and given the money to the Salvation Army or Red Cross or something. Still, drawing the conclusion is one thing; drawing a gun is something else ... to most of us. Yet.