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Tom said:

Yeah. The "system" is responsible for criminal behavior. I wonder where you picked that idea up. (n/t) - Tom Brosz - 12/21/2004 12:15:15 PM

I said:

OK, give me a situation where someone commits a crime and there is no failure of "the system" at all involved - LJ - 12/21/2004 1:48:41 PM
One of the functions of society is to prevent people from becoming dangerous to themselves or others, preferrably without killing them or locking them up forever. If those latter options come into play, society, aka "the system", has failed.

Tom said:

I'm sorry, we seem to be operating on completely different wavelengths. - Tom Brosz - 12/21/2004 3:39:14 PM
The short answer is some guy who decides he needs a new set of hubcaps and a car stereo, and figures ripping off a few old ladies (they don't fight back) is easier than working for it.

In the universe you live in, where evil, free will, and choice don't exist, if someone commits a crime, obviously "society" is to blame, and if only "society" had done its job, either the criminal would never have become a criminal in the first place, or somehow the victim would have been protected.

This is not surprising. I see the same mindset in foreign policy, and the writings are full of reasons why Japan would never have attacked us, Pol Pot would never killed a third of his population, or the U.S.S.R. would never have become a militaristic home for gulags--if only they hadn't been "forced" into it, probably by something America and the capitalist West did to them.

Surely if Zarqawi had had a better childhood, he wouldn't be sawing the heads off of screaming victims now.

I believe that free will exists, however one's life experiences influence the decisions one makes. In a society that was working perfectly, everyone would be raised in a safe, secure, firm and loving environment, and everyone would be well educated, academically and socially/morally/ethically. They would not be in fear for their lives, for their next meal, for their human rights.

By society, I mean the whole picture - family, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, businesses, and governments on all levels.

I believe that, in such an ideal society, the only people making bad decisions would be those suffering form mental illness, and those people would be recognized early and treated appropriately so that they didn't harm themselves or others.

And yes, if Zarqawi had been spirited out of his cradle and raised by an upper middle class western family with good parenting skills and a decent support network, I am quite sure that he would not be "sawing the heads off of screaming victims now."

Of course we don't live in a society that is remotely as effective as I have described, and thus there are many people out there making bad decisions, on small and large scales, that are causing a great deal of harm.

I think that he alternative to believing as I do is to believe in the concept of evil as a force unto itself, something that I reject completely, but something that perhaps defines the difference between the left and the right world-views.