Drawing lines

I had planned earlier today to write a post on this week’s death-penalty decision, expanding on my post from yesterday, and focusing on the logical fallacy at the heart of the argument that some crimes are so heinous as to deserve death. I got sidetracked, however, and then I read a post from Matthew Yglesias that included this line:

efforts to draw distinctions — to tinker with the machinery of death — are fundamentally misguided.

That’s my opinion exactly. Consider the case at hand. There is no doubt that child rape is as venal and disgusting a crime as can be imagined; to many — probably most — people, sending the perpetrator to death would be warranted.

The question, however, is why draw the line there? Why not apply it to all rape? And why stop there?

I am being facetious, of course, but my point is that our efforts to draw lines only create new questions and difficulties, new inconsistencies and new hypocrisies. And while we have no choice but to draw some lines, lives are not at stake.

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet