re: Aaron Hernandez and the death penalty - semi updated OP

Very true, we have a flawed justice system.

But given the choice of two evils would you rather be in jail, or dead?

I would welcome death over prison

I wonder if there will be even more dead bodies to come

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Donald Sterling will be executed before Aaron Hernandez

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Three-Fifths Compromise Board

So much internet badassery today. Even for the OT.

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definitely more public outrage surrounding Sterling. Which is a shame

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Disagree. There is some debate and disagreement about how the Sterling situation should be handled, as well as celebs (aka Lebron) pining against him. That's why it receives more attention. There is no debate or need to speak out against Hernandez, everyone knows he's a piece of shite who should probably die

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Disagree. There is some debate and disagreement about how the Sterling situation should be handled, as well as celebs (aka Lebron) pining against him. That's why it receives more attention. There is no debate or need to speak out against Hernandez, everyone knows he's a piece of shite who should probably die

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It's a decent theoretical point, but I don't think you're right. I think your version is a reasonable explanation of how a reasonable society would do it. In truth, I don't think people give a shite about murder and rape if the people being murdered and raped are in circles or communities where it isn't that uncommon. There is no outrage because people don't really care.

The obvious exceptions are when someone from outside that community kills someone arguably in those circles (Trayvon Martin - world explodes) or whenever someone in that community kills a lily white person (crickets).

Unless it is a wife gone missing (and her husband has to be white, this is important) or you kill a kid or something, in many ways, racism is the worse crime. Or at least the urge of dumb white people to stand up and shout about how awful the racist is certainly provides that perception.

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In truth, I don't think people give a shite about murder and rape if the people being murdered and raped are in circles or communities where it isn't that uncommon.

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I definitely agree with you on this



I guess I don't see more headlines about Sterling = more public outrage about it. When someone like Lebron speaks out about Sterling, it's naturally going to create headlines and more attention because he's a celebrity, but I don't think that means the general public is more upset about it. There is also some suspense involved with Sterling as to what will happen, whereas most people have pretty much accepted Hernandez is guilty and wrote it off.

Now if Sterling is allowed to keep the franchise and they aren't able to force the sale? No doubt the public outrage will far exceed anything with Hernandez. I just think if you polled people right now on which situation upset them more the majority would answer Hernandez. At least I hope so, now I'm starting to doubt myself

I agree... I almost wonder if he played for any team/city not named Patriots if it would have gotten more attention.

It is strange whats new and important and what isn't. I don't understand it

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Now if Sterling is allowed to keep the franchise and they aren't able to force the sale? No doubt the public outrage will far exceed anything with Hernandez. I just think if you polled people right now on which situation upset them more the majority would answer Hernandez. At least I hope so, now I'm starting to doubt myself

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You're probably right. I think the outrage is fake on either side.

I mean, I'll admit I don't really care about Hernandez. We're jaded as a society, so some gang member killing some people who hang out with gang members doesn't mean anything to me. It probably should, but it doesn't. So we'll all vote "yes" to moral outrage, but we don't really care.

As for Sterling, people like you and I probably don't care about that either. What some old man says to his hooker girlfriend is pure entertainment. I feel no need as a white dude to say "Hey that guy is racist, unlike me, because I like black people!" but a lot of white morons are doing that, which drives the media coverage (and the media has their own agenda in situations like this). But I don't even think the liberal "outrage" from the white community is real either.

In sum, I think you're right more people would vote against Hernandez. But the outcry is louder with Sterling. And if we assess why the outcry is louder, the obvious conclusion is because the stigma of racism is so strong in this country that people feel the need to feign outrage against racists. People feel more inclined to speak out against racism than murder, which is probably screwed up.