I realise that my screaming is a reflex action. I have absolutely no control over it! Guess God gave women that reflex action for protection. I'm pretty sure if I screamed with all my might people at least a km away would be able to hear me. Heh heh.
Anyways. Watched The Green Mile at Tito and Noumie's today, after a fantabulous Nasi Lemask meal cooked by beloved Noumie. There're so many movies I've been wanting to watch! Har... when the holidays come the movie maniac in me will rise to strike again. :) Thank God for Uni of York library DVDs!
Green Mile was good, but not absolutely fantastic. It didn't get me thinking stuff I wasn't already thinking, but it was just a stark reminder of how sadistic and ugly people can get. And dear John the big guy just broke my heart... just looking at his face melted my heart, despite his mammoth size (would say the guy acted pretty well). Needless to say his death at the end brought to mind the brutal torture and death of Jesus, mockery and false accusations flying right smack into his face. Sigh... (Thanks Rokey for that pat on the head). Sometime during the movie I started thinking about my stand on capital punishment. Not quite sure what the biblical stand is; the OT seems to advocate isolation of someone out of a community for particular reasons, as well as stoning to death for adulterers, etc. but these were given as laws in order to establish some kind of order for a roaming nation that has just left Egypt. In fact with the NT Jesus came to show that law kills but the Spirit lives - the law is pointless, even if it's effective to a certain extent - and forgiveness reigns. Meaning capital punishment should be abolished for a post-Jesus theocracy if it exists? Then I thought about the essay I did on polity, institutions and imprisonment last term. (yes I can't believe all these were flying by in just seconds during the movie when it's taking so long to type) Basically the gist of my essay revolves around William Godwin, who advocated a society without institutions and prisons and suggested uniform reformation and peaceable change instead - I'd imagine this to be the 'best' way possible, and this is biblically supported (since Godwin ripped most of his ideas from the bible and cast God out of the picture, like many others) since love and forgiveness are the big things in the bible. BUT... with a society as exists today it's no longer possible and we have to recourse to second best, and I'm not even sure if it's SECOND best or the best viable option, which are laws, institutions, imprisonment, capital punishment, etc. which eventually reveal themselves to be ghastly imperfect. Legislation is pretty much man's way of playing God anyway, right? Trying to keep a society in order according to the system of punishment and deterrence.
How well does it work anyway? Even in the things that affect our lives personally. Punishment and deterrence only go so far in keeping us away from what we shouldn't do. Positive motivation......
But I digress. Capital punishment doesn't make any sense to me basically. And I'm sure biblically too. But what can we do for a society that rejects the bible and love yet seek to clamour for their individual truths?
You stick to your truth and fight for your rights, and you get more pain in the arse.
I wonder if I'm being Burkean-imperialist now......
but generally, the failure of institutions and legislation imply that human authority is so fallible! So imperialism doesn't make sense either.
Go figure.
