I won't comment too much on abortion because it's a complex thing and it's too easy to judge without knowing. I view it as morally ambiguous, but I think of most things as morally ambiguous, really. I don't think I'd want my girlfriend to do it, but I'm not about to stop someone I don't know from doing it either. I don't think "morality" should be imposed on people, rather it should be a personal choice.
I find it difficult to either support or condemn the death penalty at times. Here's an example.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/bittake r_norris/1.html
If you don't have the time to read this, I'll sum it up quickly. Two men raped, tortured and killed numerous young women, most between the ages of 13 and 19. They made audio tapes of some of it. They were convicted and one of them was sentenced to death in 1981. He's still on death row right now. There is absolutely NO DOUBT that these men tortured and murdered those women. It's on tape. Here's something of interest, quoted from the above article:
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Death penalty sentences are neither sure nor swift. Appeal of a death sentence is automatic, regardless of the defendant’s wishes. Two years elapsed before the California Supreme Court appointed Bittaker’s appellate attorney, six more before the same court affirmed Bittaker’s death sentence on June 28, 1989. Bittaker was absent on October 4, 1989, when Torrance judge John Shook set his execution for December 29, but he had little to fear. His attorney filed yet another appeal that automatically stayed the execution. On June 11, 1990, the California Supreme Court declined to hear the case again.
Later that same year, while actor Scott Glenn was preparing for his role as an FBI profiler in The Silence of the Lambs, he visited the Bureau’s Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico, Virginia. Legendary profiler John Douglas gave Glenn a tour of the facility. Glenn listened to the Bittaker/Norris tapes and he left Douglas’ office in tears. He told reporters that he entered the office as a death penalty opponent. He left staunchly in favor of capital punishment.
When Bittaker was not busy drafting appeals, he amused himself by filing frivolous suits against the state prison system. There were more than 40 in all by October 1995. In one case, where he claimed he had been subjected to “cruel and unusual punishment” by receipt of a broken cookie on his lunch tray, state officials paid $5,000 to have the suit dismissed. Before the state was granted summary judgment, they had to prove that Bittaker could skip his lunch and still survive by only eating breakfast and dinner.
It was all great fun and cost Bittaker nothing, since California prisoners are permitted to file their suits for free. When not pursuing nuisance litigation, Bittaker enjoyed a daily game of bridge with fellow inmates Randy Kraft, Douglas Clark and William Bonin, themselves convicted serial killers with an estimated 94 victims among them. The game was left short-handed in February 1996, after Bonin was executed, but Bittaker has other diversions. In the late 1990s, a catalogue of prison memorabilia offered his fingernail clippings for sale to murder groupies. And there is fan mail -- enough to keep him busy between card games.
Bittaker often signs his letters with a nickname.
“Pliers.”
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I would kill that man personally, no doubt about it, if it were my daughter, my sister or my girlfriend, etc. whom he destroyed. I'd kill him a thousand times if I could. Sometimes people should be killed. Most often not, but sometimes, yeah. I don't see violence as right or wrong so much as I see it as complex. Good can come of violence, as well as bad. It is a part of all of us, and there must be a reason for it. It's a necessary part of us, unfortunately, and we are what we are. We aren't good, we aren't bad, we just are.
As for vegetarianism, meat and leather, well, what can you do. I'm a meat eater. I love it. The difference between myself and many meat eaters is that I'm very aware of the fact that I'm eating something that used to be alive. I have no problem killing my own food personally. Actually, I would encourage killing your own food instead of picking up steaks at the supermarket if you are a meat lover. You have to actually watch something die, and ask yourself if you're okay with what you've done. I'm okay with it because I won't kill cruelly or for no reason. I show the prey some respect. I try not waste any of the rabbits I've killed, so that they've served a purpose in death.
I wear lot's of leather. Not because of fashion or anything like that, but because I do eat beef quite often. Being that I can't really go cow-hunting, it's my way of showing respect to that animal. I have a few leather coats, I wear leather construction boots all year round, on special occasions leather dress shoes. All of my belts are leather and in the winter I wear leather gloves. Does that make me a bad person? I don't think so. i don't eat veal partly because I don't think I could kill a baby cow, and partly because I just plain don't like the taste. If I liked it enough, I might be willing to kill the calf. Who knows?
There is a difference between being cruel to an animal and killing an animal in my opinion. I have a few dogs and I treat them well. I couldn't hurt them. BTW I don't really draw a distinction between animals for the most part. I'm the only guy I know who isn't disgusted by the thought of people eating dogs. I just wouldn't do it because I love dogs.
Wow this is a long post. Sorry about that. I guess to sum it up, there is a difference between killing and torture, and violence is what you make it. To each his own, as always.