I dislike the act of violence. I feel bad for people who get shot, and I feel bad for the shooter that feels so much angst that leads them to such an act. What I really can't condone is people chiming in with their insight on why the 'good' is good and the 'bad' is bad. Somehow, self-righteous people with a holier-than-thou attitude are always on the side that is 'good.'
The comedian Norm Macdonald recently sent a tweet that I think is so insightful:
The idiot sees the world as good vs evil, the cynic sees the world as evil vs evil. The truth that no one seems able to see is that the world is, and always has been, a battle of good vs good.
What person doesn't think he side is the 'right' side? Again, I don't agree with violence, but we really don't know the experience of the shooters who are pushed to the brink. I suspect the shooters have often had some pretty bad things happen to them. It is sad to me that so many people interpret the world through a lens of hatred toward each other (hating the shooter, hating the victims, hating the gun manufacturers, hating the politicians who don't outlaw guns in the U.S., hating the voters who support politicians who don't outlaw guns, hating people who think the shooter is wrong, hating people who won't immediately say the shooter should burn in eternity).This analysis could be applied to pretty much every political hot-button issue. It seems many people find value or identity in their group hating the 'right' people. It's almost seems like the litmus test of how good a person you are is how much you are willing to hate. I don't believe in god, but I will say that Jesus had some pretty wonderful views on loving your neighbor and your enemy. If there was a solution to the hell of existence, it would be somewhere in the realm of love. I don't practice this effectively, but I wish I did.
Again, "right" is subjective, thereby extrarational - it relies on assumptions that aren't objective, and thereby there really isn't a right in any real sense of the word - only what most people agree with, what the churches say, philosophers say, etc. The closest I've found to "right" in any objective sense is Kant's general deontological framework, later copied by Dworkin in his veil of ignorance, which is pretty much a rehashed version of the golden rule. Still, that relies on certain assumptions of what "the good" is, whether humanity should continue for example. Once you get outside those bounds, then it all falls apart, and basically comes down to an argument over which instinctual / emotional drives win out in the long run. ie, you like black, i like yellow, there's really no way of actually proving which is better, unless you apply some standard upon them, ie which is preferred by a larger percentage of people, which is more useful for certain tasks, etc. Once you put it in context - it's purpose, what it's used for - then comparing and judging becomes easy.
On extremely basic assumptions, such as whether humanity should continue, there's near universal agreement, so in most conversations people take that as a given - the "well being of the body politic) and such. However - and as was talked about in the first posting of this thread - it really depends on how you look at things.
As some of you may know, Every Cradle is a Grave, perhaps life on this earth is Hell, and we're the damned ones for being borne - the lucky ones being those who weren't. From that perspective, mass murderers are Saints.
Now when it comes to personal ethics, I generally don't support violence against others either, since that assumes I know what "the good" is, and though probably much more educated than most humans my arrogance hasn't risen to that level - yet. I sure wish america followed the same path, you know - not invading other countries and killing 1/2 a million people, which lead to the creation of ISIS, etc. etc. The worst part about the Florida shooting a few months back was the amount of air time given to it - and considering these were daily occurences in Iraq ten years ago, it's fucking disgusting that we tolerate shit like that, as long as it isn't in our backyard.
