Where I lose my sensitivity

When someone is asked to describe me the first word that comes to mind, besides handsome, is usually "sensitive." (Pause for snide remarks). Now in the past I have made statements about douchebags, Republicans and cats that have brought my sensitivity into question. Today, I will go even further with a few issues that have been on my mind.

Torture: I was watching an episode of "24" maybe 4-5 months ago. In this episode a terrorist organization had stolen a nuclear weapon and placed it somewhere in Los Angeles. The main character was trying to get approval from the President to use "other methods" to get info from some terrorist that they captured and knew was involved. The President did not want to give approval. This made me think: am I really that against torture? Essentially I am, but I think I would make exceptions in extreme situations like the one presented in this TV show. I mean, I value the lives of a whole city over some terrorists' various extremities. The problem I have is defining when torture should be allowed. You can't leave it at "extreme situations" because the current administration would consider Bush's lunch being stolen as extreme. But I feel that if you know 100% that some person is involved in a plan that could lead to serious death and/or widespread cable internet outages then I'm OK with shoving bamboo shoots under their fingernails.

Stanley "Tookie" Williams: This may not do much to my perceived sensitivity, but I want to write about it anyways. Williams started the Crips and is supposed to be executed Monday night for a couple of murders. I know, "how could a decent fellow who started a group with such a positive image in the community have possibly killed anybody?" but I guess he did. Well, I guess some people want the Governator to grant him clemency since he wrote some children's books about not joining gangs, and I (you may want to sit down for this) totally agree. What do we accomplish by killing this guy? Not much in my view. However, he has neither apologized or even admitted to these murders to this day, so I say he has to sit in that jail cell without TV or any other form of entertainment for the rest of his life. In fact, I often wonder why people in jail get to do anything besides sit in a chair, eat, and use the bathroom? They are in prison and it should not be luxurious in any form. No nudie mags, no Raiders games, no weights. Maybe I would be OK with them reading books, but certainly no TV. I mean, it is a punishment right?

Devin Brown: This is where I am bound to offend or at least make people cringe. Maybe. Oh well. Devin Brown was shot by an LAPD officer when, after a lengthy chase, he backed the car towards said LAPD officer. Problem? He was 13 and African-American. Now this issue caused all kinds of ruckus from various civil rights groups over the need to shoot the kid. Yes, I recognize that the officer shot 10 times and most (if not all) of the bullets hit the side window. So how could this have been prevented? I would argue that if the kid had not stolen a car and ran from the cops he would probably be alive today. I really do feel bad for the family and even for the kid, but he did run from the cops and even backed the car towards an officer, hitting his squad car. However, I find it interesting that the NAACP is avoiding this one. They had only two press releases that I could find and the only called for an investigation. I do think that the LAPD should really examine their policies about when to use or not use lethal force, but cops are people too and they fear for their own lives. Although they decide to take a job that will likely end up putting them into risky situations, it is hard to turn off that need for self-preservation. There was a similar uproar over a young(?) African-American woman shot in her car by police while she was sleeping. Well, she wasn't exactly sleeping and she had a gun in her lap. What's the lesson? If you don't put yourself into a life-threatening situation you have a better chance to live longer.

In the end, I am all about protecting people's civil rights to an extent beyond what the government is doing now, even if it completely inconveniences a lot of other people. But I guess I just feel like accountability is important too.

Anyways, those are just some things that I needed to get off my chest.

New DotW Saturday.