sherryillk (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sherryillk) wrote2010-04-03 08:02 am
sherryillk) wrote2010-04-03 08:02 am
(no subject)
Just finished the first season of Boston Legal.
Wow.
They really ended it with a bang. I was almost in tears and all I wanted to do was wrench my eyes away but at the same time, I was compelled to continued on watching. Alan's impassioned speech before the High Court was so remarkable, so true that it made you just hate those judges when they decided against Zeke. My god, I know this is all make-believe but seriously, are people in Texas that crazy? Not to mentioned stupid? All I could think when Alan was hitting his stride, was "Go Alan go!" and "Thank god for liberal media!" Biased as it was, thank god it put a highlight on Texas and the Death Penalty. It made me just sick watching it and that ending where Zeke is fighting and everyone is too ashamed to watch so they turn their heads away and they just fade to black with the credits, all the while we were left wondering whether or not the hula girl Angela was able to find the Texas governor to stay the execution... It was beautifully well crafted. While I hate the fact that we weren't shown whether or not Zeke truly died, I'm also glad we don't know. It would have surely ruined it otherwise. Plus, I'd like to think there is still some hope left by just cutting away.
I came out of that episode more firm in my beliefs that the death penalty is wrong and that I still would rather die than live in Texas. Of course, right now there's a lot of the whole "Texans are evil, Texans will kill you if they have the chance" feeling swirling around in there too but after the show fades a little, I know the rational side of my mind will assert itself and remind myself that there are reasonable Texas Democrats out there as well and not all of them are like that. I'm sure there are even moderate Republicans who are decent as well but I tend to be wary with Republicans in general so I can't say I have much real experience with them.
Anyway, this episode got me thinking. Well, more remembering than anything else. Back in high school, I once had to prepare a persuasive argument for or against the death penalty. It was a CIM (Certificate of Initial Mastery -- it was a sort of standardize testing and grading for Oregon that was important just in Oregon. I think for a while it was required to graduate. Incidentally, I received both my CIM and CAM -- Certificate of Advanced Mastery -- and all it got me were two more cords at graduation) speech so it was a very big deal and we spent probably a whole month researching, writing a major paper and preparing for the speech. It was assigned, both the subject and whether or not we were against or for. At the time, I was pro-death penalty because I had a desperate belief that there are some crimes that are so heinous, so unbelievably wrong that the only way to achieve justice was through death. Suffice to say, I wasn't assigned the pro but the con.
But that was okay! At the time I was this cocky little pissant that relished the challenged. In fact, I wanted it. In times like these, I always like to take the side that I'm against -- know your enemy and all that. And I had the sincerest belief that I was so awesome that even if I didn't support it, I would be able to sway any sane, rational person to my side through logic and common sense and the beauty of the written word.
I can't say my mind was changed by that speech. For a long time, I really did believe in the death penalty. Right now, I'm not really sure I fully disagree with it in all instances. But as I started to refine my political views and opinions, the death penalty was one of those issues that shifted. I'm a Democrat and a very liberal one at that. That's never been in question with me, probably because for one, I'm female, two, I'm Chinese so I'm also a person of color, and three, I adored Bill Clinton like crazy. And probably, four, George W. Bush made me ashamed to be an American and that's a damn horrible thing for a President to do.
But there are always nuances to each person's views -- for one thing, while I don't believe in English as the national language, I do firmly believe that people who live here should be literate and fluent in English at the very least (they can be literate and fluent in other languages as well, I don't really care what they speak at home with family). People should learn English and make an effort to learn English. And I'm not quite so sure about amnesty for illegal immigrants even if I'm not really sure what we can do aside from it.
So for me, the death penalty wasn't cut and dry. Liberal doesn't mean anti-death penalty necessarily. But as I grew older, I started thinking about people being wrongly accused, people being exonerated and all I could think of was how mistakes can happen. I would much rather we have dangerous killers locked up in prison for their entire lives than for one innocent man be executed. Shouldn't we err on caution? Don't we owe life that much? When it comes down to it, I don't believe anyone has the right to decide whether or not someone lives or dies. It's also why I'm proud that Oregon has the Death with Dignity Act -- people should be able to choose to end their own lives when they have nothing left but pain and suffering. I find it a deeply personal act, something I don't think governments have any right in deciding for us what we can or cannot do with our bodies.
And along that same vein, I'm pro-choice. Personally, I don't believe in abortion and I'm thankful that I had right to choose that on my own. My own brother told me he thought I was pro-choice because I was for killing babies. He was joking but that was never the case. In issues like these, I believe we can't force our own morality on others, people have to come to believe in it themselves and I truly believe there will come a time in our future where abortions wouldn't be necessary and the thought of it would be considered barbaric. But that time is not now. And like it or not, a woman has to live with carrying a baby to term and there are far more negative ramifications for a woman to have an unwanted pregnancy than there would ever be for a man, even if the baby was to be given away for adoption. Plus, some people are not meant to be parents. If a woman knows this about themselves, I don't think it's in the best interest of the child to be brought into this world.
Anyway, I digress. The whole point of this probably way too deep and depressing post about the death penalty of all things, is that I truly wish there were no death penalty. I certainly wish that at the very least, Oregon didn't have the death penalty and that I could live in a place like Massachusetts where they've declared it unconstitutional, but I don't. But at the very least, it reaffirmed my belief that if there is even the hint of innocence, of any doubt what so ever, no one should ever be executed. The government shouldn't be in the murder business and once an innocent person is legally executed, that is essentially what the government is doing.
And oh, on a much lighter, unrelated note, GO MOUNTAINEERS! If WV wins today, my NCAA bracket will beat Kent's and that's all that really matters in the end. ^^
Wow.
They really ended it with a bang. I was almost in tears and all I wanted to do was wrench my eyes away but at the same time, I was compelled to continued on watching. Alan's impassioned speech before the High Court was so remarkable, so true that it made you just hate those judges when they decided against Zeke. My god, I know this is all make-believe but seriously, are people in Texas that crazy? Not to mentioned stupid? All I could think when Alan was hitting his stride, was "Go Alan go!" and "Thank god for liberal media!" Biased as it was, thank god it put a highlight on Texas and the Death Penalty. It made me just sick watching it and that ending where Zeke is fighting and everyone is too ashamed to watch so they turn their heads away and they just fade to black with the credits, all the while we were left wondering whether or not the hula girl Angela was able to find the Texas governor to stay the execution... It was beautifully well crafted. While I hate the fact that we weren't shown whether or not Zeke truly died, I'm also glad we don't know. It would have surely ruined it otherwise. Plus, I'd like to think there is still some hope left by just cutting away.
I came out of that episode more firm in my beliefs that the death penalty is wrong and that I still would rather die than live in Texas. Of course, right now there's a lot of the whole "Texans are evil, Texans will kill you if they have the chance" feeling swirling around in there too but after the show fades a little, I know the rational side of my mind will assert itself and remind myself that there are reasonable Texas Democrats out there as well and not all of them are like that. I'm sure there are even moderate Republicans who are decent as well but I tend to be wary with Republicans in general so I can't say I have much real experience with them.
Anyway, this episode got me thinking. Well, more remembering than anything else. Back in high school, I once had to prepare a persuasive argument for or against the death penalty. It was a CIM (Certificate of Initial Mastery -- it was a sort of standardize testing and grading for Oregon that was important just in Oregon. I think for a while it was required to graduate. Incidentally, I received both my CIM and CAM -- Certificate of Advanced Mastery -- and all it got me were two more cords at graduation) speech so it was a very big deal and we spent probably a whole month researching, writing a major paper and preparing for the speech. It was assigned, both the subject and whether or not we were against or for. At the time, I was pro-death penalty because I had a desperate belief that there are some crimes that are so heinous, so unbelievably wrong that the only way to achieve justice was through death. Suffice to say, I wasn't assigned the pro but the con.
But that was okay! At the time I was this cocky little pissant that relished the challenged. In fact, I wanted it. In times like these, I always like to take the side that I'm against -- know your enemy and all that. And I had the sincerest belief that I was so awesome that even if I didn't support it, I would be able to sway any sane, rational person to my side through logic and common sense and the beauty of the written word.
I can't say my mind was changed by that speech. For a long time, I really did believe in the death penalty. Right now, I'm not really sure I fully disagree with it in all instances. But as I started to refine my political views and opinions, the death penalty was one of those issues that shifted. I'm a Democrat and a very liberal one at that. That's never been in question with me, probably because for one, I'm female, two, I'm Chinese so I'm also a person of color, and three, I adored Bill Clinton like crazy. And probably, four, George W. Bush made me ashamed to be an American and that's a damn horrible thing for a President to do.
But there are always nuances to each person's views -- for one thing, while I don't believe in English as the national language, I do firmly believe that people who live here should be literate and fluent in English at the very least (they can be literate and fluent in other languages as well, I don't really care what they speak at home with family). People should learn English and make an effort to learn English. And I'm not quite so sure about amnesty for illegal immigrants even if I'm not really sure what we can do aside from it.
So for me, the death penalty wasn't cut and dry. Liberal doesn't mean anti-death penalty necessarily. But as I grew older, I started thinking about people being wrongly accused, people being exonerated and all I could think of was how mistakes can happen. I would much rather we have dangerous killers locked up in prison for their entire lives than for one innocent man be executed. Shouldn't we err on caution? Don't we owe life that much? When it comes down to it, I don't believe anyone has the right to decide whether or not someone lives or dies. It's also why I'm proud that Oregon has the Death with Dignity Act -- people should be able to choose to end their own lives when they have nothing left but pain and suffering. I find it a deeply personal act, something I don't think governments have any right in deciding for us what we can or cannot do with our bodies.
And along that same vein, I'm pro-choice. Personally, I don't believe in abortion and I'm thankful that I had right to choose that on my own. My own brother told me he thought I was pro-choice because I was for killing babies. He was joking but that was never the case. In issues like these, I believe we can't force our own morality on others, people have to come to believe in it themselves and I truly believe there will come a time in our future where abortions wouldn't be necessary and the thought of it would be considered barbaric. But that time is not now. And like it or not, a woman has to live with carrying a baby to term and there are far more negative ramifications for a woman to have an unwanted pregnancy than there would ever be for a man, even if the baby was to be given away for adoption. Plus, some people are not meant to be parents. If a woman knows this about themselves, I don't think it's in the best interest of the child to be brought into this world.
Anyway, I digress. The whole point of this probably way too deep and depressing post about the death penalty of all things, is that I truly wish there were no death penalty. I certainly wish that at the very least, Oregon didn't have the death penalty and that I could live in a place like Massachusetts where they've declared it unconstitutional, but I don't. But at the very least, it reaffirmed my belief that if there is even the hint of innocence, of any doubt what so ever, no one should ever be executed. The government shouldn't be in the murder business and once an innocent person is legally executed, that is essentially what the government is doing.
And oh, on a much lighter, unrelated note, GO MOUNTAINEERS! If WV wins today, my NCAA bracket will beat Kent's and that's all that really matters in the end. ^^