"Penny is someone who genuinely believes in a fate worse than death. That fate would be to live as a coward." There's a word for that: honor. The Marines tend to appeal to people who value honor.
I wonder if a state could alter its tort laws to make civil action against someone who has been declared innocent of a crime summarily impossible. I think this would be a worthwhile change. If the DA charges you and fails to convict, you are innocent as a matter of law.
There's an attitude in our society that anyone who joins the military is honorable, but as the line from "A Few Good Men" goes, "You don't have to wear a patch to have honor." I know a lot of people in the military, women especially, who'd never step up to danger like Penny did.
The idea that a person can be civilly liable for someone's death despite not being criminally liable doesn't make any sense. It amounts to, "You are not the offending party, but you're still on the hook for their death."
I know what you meant. I was just adding that even a lot of military servicemembers don't possess that same level of honor as Penny did. It's part of the reason why I think our worship of veterans can be so toxic at times. Penny didn't do what he did because he was a Marine, he did it because he had honor. I'm sure you'd agree with that.
The saga of Daniel Penny definitely has NOT reached a conclusion. The process is the punishment, and they achieved that blatantly & with a vengeance. The (first) civil suit has already been filed. It won't be over until the judicial houses are cleaned out like the Aegean stables.
Crazy, right? My hunch is that there must be astounding amounts of money involved somewhere, and beyond-unthinking obedience in other quarters.
I suspect an element of psychological sunk costs, high aversion to admitting error when mistakes have been so terrible and consequential. Continuing to be unthinking is much less painful than risking brain meltdown in reckoning the damage done.
"Penny is someone who genuinely believes in a fate worse than death. That fate would be to live as a coward." There's a word for that: honor. The Marines tend to appeal to people who value honor.
I wonder if a state could alter its tort laws to make civil action against someone who has been declared innocent of a crime summarily impossible. I think this would be a worthwhile change. If the DA charges you and fails to convict, you are innocent as a matter of law.
There's an attitude in our society that anyone who joins the military is honorable, but as the line from "A Few Good Men" goes, "You don't have to wear a patch to have honor." I know a lot of people in the military, women especially, who'd never step up to danger like Penny did.
The idea that a person can be civilly liable for someone's death despite not being criminally liable doesn't make any sense. It amounts to, "You are not the offending party, but you're still on the hook for their death."
Yeah, I wasn't suggesting that Marines necessarily have honor, rather that Penny being an ex-Marine does not surprise me.
I know what you meant. I was just adding that even a lot of military servicemembers don't possess that same level of honor as Penny did. It's part of the reason why I think our worship of veterans can be so toxic at times. Penny didn't do what he did because he was a Marine, he did it because he had honor. I'm sure you'd agree with that.
The saga of Daniel Penny definitely has NOT reached a conclusion. The process is the punishment, and they achieved that blatantly & with a vengeance. The (first) civil suit has already been filed. It won't be over until the judicial houses are cleaned out like the Aegean stables.
A different arena, but the same thing.
https://chrisbray.substack.com/p/layered-prisons-dr-eithan-haim-and
All that... to trans children? The worst part is that there's nobody to appeal to regarding the absurdity of it all.
Crazy, right? My hunch is that there must be astounding amounts of money involved somewhere, and beyond-unthinking obedience in other quarters.
I suspect an element of psychological sunk costs, high aversion to admitting error when mistakes have been so terrible and consequential. Continuing to be unthinking is much less painful than risking brain meltdown in reckoning the damage done.