[fukusa]

The problem is that by calling them 'bad people' you imply that they committed the crime because they were 'bad people'. And that's the core of the problem. They were not 'bad people' before they committed the crime. They were just people in need of help. By focusing on how they were 'bad people' you make it seem like you haven't contributed to the problem and there is no other solution then to fight them (using violence) while in fact there are many things we could have done differently and many things we still can do to prevent these crimes from happening. The fact is that it's much easier to blame it on them for being 'bad people' then to look at the consequences of our own actions.

[TrevorJ]

This sounds uncomfortably close to victim blaming.

[fukusa]

I am not blaming the victims at all. For example: You could call many people living in the hood 'bad people' because of the crimes they commit but are they really 'bad people' or do they eventually commit these crimes because of the situation they grow up in and the disadvantages they have had in life? By stating this, am I blaming the victims of armed robberies, of theft of murder? Of course I am not. I just think we should have a nuanced rational discussion about how we can prevent crimes instead of discussing about offenders and victims, bad people and good people.

[TrevorJ]

That's fair, I think I see where you are coming from now. I do think, however, that we have to be careful not to remove personal responsibility from the equation. Circumstances can certainly motivate behaviour but we are still responsible for our actions. Suggesting otherwise seems compassionate on the surface, but it can also be incredibly disempowering and corrosive.

[viraptor]

There was an article lately about interviews with captured ISIS fighters on the death row. (I can't find the link unfortunately, maybe anyone's got it?) The idea was that what some of them describe is basically being forced to join the movement because there's no other way for them to provide for their families - they just suddenly lived in the middle of a war, but they don't care about the ideology itself. Biased? Of course, and doesn't apply to the European attackers. But still something to think about.

[mercurial]

I agree with you both, but I think we can argue that people can have mitigating circumstances, and that you can (and should) try to understand why it is they do what they do, rather than "Any gun in the hands of a bad man is a bad thing. Any gun in the hands of a decent person is no threat to anybody — except bad people." Life isn't a comic book.

[TrevorJ]

Agreed, good point.