A Sick Puppy
To start the day with this story was to start the day in the worst possible way.
It's clear that Mr. Mickel is one sick puppy, but then I think people who kill others in cold blood are sick and need to be put someplace where they won't repeat their sick acts. Prisons and/or a mental institutions will keep them and society safe. Killing them in cold blood under state sanction is equally as sick in my view, so I am opposed to the death penalty, even in cases as horrendous as this one.
Still, there's something else about this story that caused the hair on the back of my neck to rise: his justification for the murder of the police officer. He did it because he was a "patriot," because America is heading in the wrong direction when it comes to civil rights and the public has to notice. Like the Unabomber, Mr. Mickel has an agenda that on its surface appears to be part of the wackiest part of the far left. And that does more than embarrass an unashamed progressive like me; it scares the hell out of me.
This country is deeply divided, and the chasm separating the two sides has grown to the point where civil discourse is nigh unto impossible. But murder to make a point? Have we somehow gotten to that place where speech is easily replaced by guns?
Florida's new law allowing private citizens to carry and use guns if they are threatened on the street (rather than running away) seems to be pointing us in that direction. If that is the case, then why bother with elections, or governments, or the rule of law. He with the biggest semi-automatic and the best aim will rule.
That is not the country I want to live in, and I'm reasonably certain that it is not the country my more conservative friends want either.
Hopefully Mr. Mickel is simply a single instance of mental illness rather than a marker for when the end began. Hopefully.
It's clear that Mr. Mickel is one sick puppy, but then I think people who kill others in cold blood are sick and need to be put someplace where they won't repeat their sick acts. Prisons and/or a mental institutions will keep them and society safe. Killing them in cold blood under state sanction is equally as sick in my view, so I am opposed to the death penalty, even in cases as horrendous as this one.
Still, there's something else about this story that caused the hair on the back of my neck to rise: his justification for the murder of the police officer. He did it because he was a "patriot," because America is heading in the wrong direction when it comes to civil rights and the public has to notice. Like the Unabomber, Mr. Mickel has an agenda that on its surface appears to be part of the wackiest part of the far left. And that does more than embarrass an unashamed progressive like me; it scares the hell out of me.
This country is deeply divided, and the chasm separating the two sides has grown to the point where civil discourse is nigh unto impossible. But murder to make a point? Have we somehow gotten to that place where speech is easily replaced by guns?
Florida's new law allowing private citizens to carry and use guns if they are threatened on the street (rather than running away) seems to be pointing us in that direction. If that is the case, then why bother with elections, or governments, or the rule of law. He with the biggest semi-automatic and the best aim will rule.
That is not the country I want to live in, and I'm reasonably certain that it is not the country my more conservative friends want either.
Hopefully Mr. Mickel is simply a single instance of mental illness rather than a marker for when the end began. Hopefully.
posted by Diane at 7:18 AM
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