Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Re: Ariel Castro kidnappings

Some months after the three women were discovered in the home of a man in Ohio, one of the women appeared in an hour-long special on ABC. In the promotion leading up to the airing, in the commercial, the background music was a triumphant Kelly Clarkson hit single "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger". This is actually trying to juxtapose an image of triumph with the torment of being abducted for thirteen years, almost to imply that the women can be healed and move on, having conquered what happened to them.

But, I thought, how much more fitting Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" would have been in this case.

Because of you I'll never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt
Because of you I find it hard to trust not only me but everyone around me
Because of you, I am afraid


It's unfortunate that evil exists. But it is okay to admit that there are things done to people that one can never really recover from and receive healing. We can't whitewash it with fleeting promises of a fix or a transformation. The trauma some suffered is too great to know healing in this life. And that's sad. But that's truth.

4 comments:

  1. In the opinion of many Mexicans, what he did wasn't that bad. Mexican males dominate their females from the time of walking to the grave.
    It was a harsh penalty for his crimes--getting "life" when no one died; and, Zimmerman getting off with time served!!

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    1. That is a very poor understanding of law, Jesse. And yet I should be in nowise surprised, for the continent from which you came Africa, has almost no functioning government or legal system whatsoever. SO why would I ask the opinion of an African on matters of law? Especially when Africans commit the vast majority of crime.

      So the answer to your question, algthough there is no ?-mark in your comment, although it is clear you are confused, kidnapping is among the most serious of crimes which our society prosecutes, and irrespective of who was injured or the extent of their injury, he did abduct three women, got two pregnant, and one he beat so badly that she lost the baby. And so incidentally, in my view, a homicide did occur.

      Next, the situations cannot be compared at all. The night in Sanford, there was an altercation between Zimmerman and Martin of some kind, and it's not clear who threw the first punch or whether Zimmerman was justified in pulling the trigger. It's sad that the result was to declare that this is a judicial gray area, in that no one was witness to the fight, there is evidence Zimmerman was involved in a fight and may have been injured, and there's nothing existing to nullify his testimony with contrary evidence.

      In the colonial days, there was a very powerful minister who stated it was better that the judicial system would from time to time release guilty man, than for an overzealous system to win convictions of not just criminals but also innocents. And that is a plot hole we should be satisfied with, because there are very many other societies which do not have the protections we do.

      Say, didn't Don King kill a guy some years back when he tried to collect a drug debt and he said the same thing Zimmerman did. He said he was attacked and to save his own life he had to pull the trigger. So this is not new in criminal trials.

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  2. When I am short on things to do, I comment on your unfounded prejudices. Most crimes are committed by Europeans and their relatives.


















    Zimmerman's profile showed that he wasn't cop material. At the least he should have been charged with impersonating an officer.

    The rabbit that escapes the coyote today will be caught by the hawk later

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    1. "Most crimes are committed by Europeans and their relatives."

      It purely depends. In Europe, most crimes are committed by Europeans. It would be foolish to deny that.

      In Asia, most crimes are committed by Asians.

      In Africa, most crimes are committed by Africans.

      In Antarctica, I don't know about that, since only research scientists dwell in Antarctica, so I guess scientists.

      Is that supposed to upset me that you made a statement of statistical fact?

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