"Teaching others a lesson"

[psychedelicist]

Fortunately, God does not need any of that. And unfortunately for you, neither does your conscience. Legal redress is not the only punishment, nor the worst, by any means.

You do realise that this is going to haunt you for years to come? Do you see this episode over and over? Do you dream about it? Do you see cars or situations which bring it back, so that it happens again, before your eyes?

You are too young to be able to do this and not suffer the emotional impact from it.

You shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that everyone's conscience works like yours. Quite honestly I feel neither pride nor guilt in what I did. I see it as unfortunate that I had to go as far as I did. But that's not the same thing as feeling like what I did was wrong. I've dreamed about it on occasion, once having done the same thing in my car, and the other time as the rape victim (how I was a rape victim I'll never know ) neither of them left me with any feeling of guilt or that what I did was wrong. Of course I think about it on occasion, I have a tendency to reflect on past memories when I'm sitting and doing nothing.

Whatever emotional impacts this has on me, I'm sure copious drugs and violence will desensitize me to it anyways (once again, JOKING, not serious)

 

[Exhausted]

You did what was right. And I don't buy all that guilt trip stuff. I may regret doing something, because I might get caught, but guilt? Never.

 

[Electric Sceptic]

You and your friend acted reprehensibly. You committed numerous crimes and beat up on a man with weapons. There is no defense; you both acted terribly, and should - by rights - be in jail.

The fact that the victim had also acted badly is no defense. There were any number of non-violent steps you could have taken, many of them listed above.

That you could do such a thing and say you feel no guilt amazes me; that you can do it and claim to be a christian stupifies me. That anyone else can support it or tell you that you did the right thing (particularly christians) horrifies me. It seems Jesus' 'love your enemy' message is rather out of fashion when 'beat up your enemy with a tire iron' is more popular.

You have taken pains above to mention how you feel you are safe from prosecution for this offense. I hope you are wrong. People like you deserve to be locked up, and need to be for the safety of our society.

Shame on you, shame on your friend, and shame on everyone in this thread who has applauded or approved of your actions.

 

[Exhausted]

Violence is like duct tape, when it doesn't work, use more.

 

[psychedelicist]

You and your friend acted reprehensibly. You committed numerous crimes and beat up on a man with weapons. There is no defense; you both acted terribly, and should - by rights - be in jail.

The fact that the victim had also acted badly is no defense. There were any number of non-violent steps you could have taken, many of them listed above.

That you could do such a thing and say you feel no guilt amazes me; that you can do it and claim to be a christian stupifies me. That anyone else can support it or tell you that you did the right thing (particularly christians) horrifies me. It seems Jesus' 'love your enemy' message is rather out of fashion when 'beat up your enemy with a tire iron' is more popular.

You have taken pains above to mention how you feel you are safe from prosecution for this offense. I hope you are wrong. People like you deserve to be locked up, and need to be for the safety of our society.

Shame on you, shame on your friend, and shame on everyone in this thread who has applauded or approved of your actions.

I don't know if you've noticed my faith icon, but I'm not a christian. No christian so far has applauded me, either, unless I missed a post (there was one who said he had mixed feelings, though)

But thanks for the warm sentiments. I'll remember to take the futile path next time...

 

[CSMR]

Who knows if your actions could lead to a right, to the repentance of your enemy? Whether they do or not, your action was wrong as motivated by hatred and prideful revenge.

 

[Electric Sceptic]

I don't know if you've noticed my faith icon, but I'm not a christian. No christian so far has applauded me, either, unless I missed a post (there was one who said he had mixed feelings, though)

My apologies; I misread your faith icon.

But thanks for the warm sentiments. I'll remember to take the futile path next time...

Try to take the non-beating-people-up path. And you might find (gasp) that it's not futile after all.

 

[psychedelicist]

Out of curiosity, what do you think should be done to rapists? Just lock them up in a minimum security prison for a few years till they make parole? Prison's not the funnest experience but, at least here in texas, rapists and murderers who serve a short sentence and get out have about a 6/10 chance of going back to prison for those same crimes. I don't know how it is in your state, but the prison system here is a joke, it wil not deter criminals from reoffending. Rehab is an even bigger joke, it's failed even more miserably, once again this is just what I have seen about texas, I don't know about your state.

So what exactly do you suggest be done? Even if it worked to deter crime, prison doesn't seem like a justice to the rape victims. I doubt people like you and I who have never had to deal with rape directly could even imagine what rape victims go through, and what the rapists themselves go through in comparison is so far beyond funny it's sad.

As much as I'm getting bombarded by this, more in pm's than here in the thread, I have yet to hear a better suggestion. Unfortunately 'forgive and forget' and 'turn the other cheek' are less than applicable in this situation, and I don't hear anything better.

So exactly what should we do? Forgive and forget? Leave it to this joke of a legal system? Any better suggestions?

 

[Jacob4Jesus]

Well, since you asked opinions, I would say that what you did was wrong in my opinion. However, it's not really my place to judge you so I am hesitant to say much about that. I guess it's easier to say it doesn't fit into my view of what's moral or not, but my view is not for everyone.

In my mind, you pretty much just continued to the cycle of violence. If you honestly did what you said you did, you pretty much risked a chance of some sort of retaliation on his part. Sure, you may have believed he wouldn't have, but I have known people (frighteningly enough relatives of mine) who would have gotten some friends together and probably beaten both of you and then your female friends halfway to death before. I have uncles who are serving prison time for attempted murder of someone who did something similiar to what you claim to have done. So, you were very lucky this guy did not turn the cycle of violence back on you.

Furthermore, I seriously doubt you even did this to begin with. Your attitude is way too cavalier and your story has an unrealstic feel to me, but that's just my opinion. You may or may not have, I don't know, but I don't buy it.

 

[BrownCoat]

Out of curiosity, what do you think should be done to rapists? Just lock them up in a minimum security prison for a few years till they make parole? Prison's not the funnest experience but, at least here in texas, rapists and murderers who serve a short sentence and get out have about a 6/10 chance of going back to prison for those same crimes. I don't know how it is in your state, but the prison system here is a joke, it wil not deter criminals from reoffending. Rehab is an even bigger joke, it's failed even more miserably, once again this is just what I have seen about texas, I don't know about your state.

So what exactly do you suggest be done? Even if it worked to deter crime, prison doesn't seem like a justice to the rape victims. I doubt people like you and I who have never had to deal with rape directly could even imagine what rape victims go through, and what the rapists themselves go through in comparison is so far beyond funny it's sad.

As much as I'm getting bombarded by this, more in pm's than here in the thread, I have yet to hear a better suggestion. Unfortunately 'forgive and forget' and 'turn the other cheek' are less than applicable in this situation, and I don't hear anything better.

So exactly what should we do? Forgive and forget? Leave it to this joke of a legal system? Any better suggestions?

If you don't want to be the victim of a crime, the only suggestion that I can make is to arm yourself, know the justifiable homicide statutes in your jurisidiction, and be prepared and trained in the use of your arms and also, be sure that you have the proper mindset to employ your arms.

I know it sounds paranoid, but the police have no legal duty to protect you.

What you did hear, was not self defense. Because it was not self defence, it was immoral.

 

[cobaltburrito]

I know it sounds paranoid, but the police have no legal duty to protect you.

True. But at the current moment(for the most part)it is quite profitable for them to do so.

Try to take the non-beating-people-up path. And you might find (gasp) that it's not futile after all.

Depends, in some situations it works and in some situations it doesn't. I agree with Psych. that this situation was best rectified with violence.

 

[psychedelicist]

Furthermore, I seriously doubt you even did this to begin with. Your attitude is way too cavalier and your story has an unrealstic feel to me, but that's just my opinion. You may or may not have, I don't know, but I don't buy it.

Lol, I'll even admit this. I have a tendency to go into storyteller mode and make my post sound like something out of a novel with the way I write it. I just can't seem to get to the basic point and say 'he tried to **** with my friend so we found him and beat him down', for some reason, I gotta be all elaborate and stuff and explain what's probably more than you really needed to know about the situation, like how we taped paper over his liscense plate, I'm sure things like that don't actually affect the story or it's morality one bit, but like I said I tend to write things as if it was some kind of novel or story instead of how someone would normally write it.

It can also probably be hard to believe for people that don't realize that things like this are more commonplace than they think. At least in dallas, this kind of thing happens all the time, but you would normally never hear about stories like this if you lived in a suburban neighborhood in a nice area where stuff like this never happens.

but I can see where you're coming from.

 

[Jacob4Jesus]

Lol, I'll even admit this. I have a tendency to go into storyteller mode and make my post sound like something out of a novel with the way I write it. I just can't seem to get to the basic point and say 'he tried to **** with my friend so we found him and beat him down', for some reason, I gotta be all elaborate and stuff and explain what's probably more than you really needed to know about the situation, like how we taped paper over his liscense plate, I'm sure things like that don't actually affect the story or it's morality one bit, but like I said I tend to write things as if it was some kind of novel or story instead of how someone would normally write it.

It can also probably be hard to believe for people that don't realize that things like this are more commonplace than they think. At least in dallas, this kind of thing happens all the time, but you would normally never hear about stories like this if you lived in a suburban neighborhood in a nice area where stuff like this never happens.

but I can see where you're coming from.

Yeah, I elaborate too

 

[Electric Sceptic]

Out of curiosity, what do you think should be done to rapists? Just lock them up in a minimum security prison for a few years till they make parole? Prison's not the funnest experience but, at least here in texas, rapists and murderers who serve a short sentence and get out have about a 6/10 chance of going back to prison for those same crimes. I don't know how it is in your state, but the prison system here is a joke, it wil not deter criminals from reoffending. Rehab is an even bigger joke, it's failed even more miserably, once again this is just what I have seen about texas, I don't know about your state.

So what exactly do you suggest be done? Even if it worked to deter crime, prison doesn't seem like a justice to the rape victims. I doubt people like you and I who have never had to deal with rape directly could even imagine what rape victims go through, and what the rapists themselves go through in comparison is so far beyond funny it's sad.

As much as I'm getting bombarded by this, more in pm's than here in the thread, I have yet to hear a better suggestion. Unfortunately 'forgive and forget' and 'turn the other cheek' are less than applicable in this situation, and I don't hear anything better.

So exactly what should we do? Forgive and forget? Leave it to this joke of a legal system? Any better suggestions?

Firstly, let me say that if I had my way, convicted rapists would be executed. And I'd be quite prepared to take my turn at the switch.

But on the OP, I'd like to say something else. My gut reaction is still precisely as I stated in my earlier posts - you and your friend acted reprehensibly. But when I got home tonight, I mentioned the discussion to my wife, saying (more or less) "Why was I among the minority who saw what they did as abominable?"

She put the issue into perspective for me. She asked me what if the guy had told the same story, but the attempted rape had worked, and the victim was a nine year old girl? Of course, she asked me this because she knew my feelings, and knew what my response would be - that I'd congratulate you and be the first to say the guy got off lightly. My wife suggests that the crucial point is the issue - attempted rape of an adult vs rape of a child. She suggested that I don't feel the same about the former as I do about the latter. And I must confess that much as I find rape despicable, your story didn't arouse in me the gut-level "kill the bast***" that a child rape would.

So in conclusion, I'm going to retract my earlier statements. That's still how I FEEL, but not necessarily how I think, if you see the difference. I'm going to have to think on this some more.

 

[BrownCoat]

True. But at the current moment(for the most part)it is quite profitable for them to do so.

I'm not quite sure how to take that.

 

[Chajara]

Meh, I'm not of the opinion that two wrongs ever make a right, but I don't feel one bit sorry for the guy. I think rape is despicable and people like him are the scum of the earth. If I had found out someone had tried to slip my best friend a rape drug, the dude wouldn't have made it out the door with his testicles unless someone were to physically restrain me or he were to flat out drop me and knock me out (which is plausible, I'm a tiny little thing.) At the very least he'd have gotten a tongue-lashing that would forever haunt his dreams.

In all honesty it's probably going to bother me all night that the dealer is probably still out there, and even if the moron you jumped never rapes again the dealer's other customers will. Ugh, I'm never letting my water bottle I take to school with me out of sight again.

 

[Illuminatus]

I don't approve of vigilante justice, but I also can't fault what you did. When the justice system fails, sometimes people have to take measures.

 

[benjdm]

Do you think the beating will be enough of a dis-incentive to have a >40% chance of stopping him from doing it again ? (Since you estimated jail gave him 60% chance of re-offending). If you know someone who is friends with a cop, I would actually still try and get the guy put away. Some 'I heard' kind of stuff, and a female cop stings him.

Ethically, especially considering 'V' was close to you, I can't fault you at all.

 

[Catherineanne]

Shame on you, shame on your friend, and shame on everyone in this thread who has applauded or approved of your actions.

 

[Catherineanne]

So exactly what should we do? Forgive and forget? Leave it to this joke of a legal system? Any better suggestions?

You are rationalising. I don't see how increasing the number of criminals on the streets by becoming one yourself makes the world a better place for anyone. Do you seriously for one moment think that is the way forward for the world; a descent into anarchy and lynch law? God help us all!

You are not interested in the legal system, or in justice. You are only interested in revenge.

Any better suggestions? Yes, if you were truly interested in justice, take a law degree, and change the system for the better from the inside. And if that doesn't work, stand as a political candidate and make it happen that way.