From a psychopath's perspective, is the death penalty a useful instrument to prevent violent crime?
I rather prefer the old separation of sociopath and psychopath. I am sociopathic, but I have never had an incident of psychotic behavior, or violent behavior, in my life.Many killers, as I understand, who kill in mass killings, vs serial killings, are psychotic, and a person experiencing a break from reality will not be deterred by future consequences. They are not rational.Many people who are psychopathic are very clever predators who range from opportunistic to professional to compulsive in their use of violence. They take advantage of their lack of inhibition from killing, in many cases, to take pleasure and/or profit from the activity. In their case, fear of death is not much of a deterrent. They are not afraid of inflicting it, or really of their own, I'd expect.And I can speak to this -- I suspect this is something I do have in common, as an ethical sociopath. I do not fear death at all. Not a bit. That part of instinct that is in other humans and most mammals doesn't exist in me. I'm also not jealous and lack a lot of territorial instincts a lot of people seem to have naturally. I expect it's all one package, a set of social-mammal "emotions" that just aren't there for me.I don't seek death, that wouldn't make any sense. But fearing it -- this existential indescribable drive away from the very contemplation of mortality that a normal human being is assumed to have -- seems counterproductive and leads to horrible decision making. It's the sort of thing that seems like a phobia you'd get therapy to correct, but no one does because of course, it's normal.Faced with the option of say, 80 years in prison or death, I think I'd opt for death. Prisons are incredibly horrible. So, we're I a psychotic murderer type, I expect I'd be perfectly OK with the death penalty.Something of a safety valve.Death penalty makes very little sense at all to me. My understanding is that it tends to kill the wrong people, and as far as I'm concerned, it's largely there for the prurient satisfaction of the mob.
Why do so many African Americans vote democrat? Why are all the race riots and crime in liberal cities?
African Americans migrated from the agricultural jobs in the south, to cities in the north for jobs... mostly in manufacturing. Cities became 'liberal' due to the dynamics of diversity and commerce. When everybody is working and making money liberalism flourishes. The demise of manufacturing, the failure of that population to retool for a different economy has led to unemployment, and it's cousins: crime, dysfunctional families, drug trade, along with crumbling tax revenue, infrastructure, schools, housing and other sustaining and supportive social services. FDR and the democrats after him have tended to be 'liberal' and embracing of diversity. Except for the southern "blue dog" democrats who mostly became Republicans over the segregation issue, the Democratic Party aligns itself not only with urban areas (where there are lots of blacks and other's votes), but with other groups such as labor. The other choice for voters is the current two-party system is the GOP which tends to be rural, southern, bible belt, affluent, and conservative (status-quo-seeking) and does not seem to speak to issues of major concern of African American voters.P.S. There were many race riots after WWI where returning African American veterans prospered and built thriving communities. These race riots were perpetrated by pissed off whites in places like Oklahoma, Texas, and Florida.See wiki for more info on white race riots:
Which is more dangerous the far right or the far left?
Assume that there is a simple 2D spectrum. Than the answer is a very simple: both.Just take the two most prominent examples:Right: Nazi-Germany. A very conservative, work ethic driven, "we for the Führer/nation/people" regime.Left: Stalins UDSSR. A very conservative, work ethic driven, "we for Comrade Stalin/nation/people" regime.Continue to observe their common traits:Very strict rule set which may turn against you at any time.You may work as hard as you want, if there's someone in the political party of the nations leader which has more influence than you, you're probably already gone.Gulags and KZs (concentration camps) to kill people.No legal allowed opposition. Illegal opposition ended in Gulags or KZs.A very inhuman attitude against people and life in general.Very aggressive foreign politics.Focused on military spending. Don't forget. Almost the whole 20th century in Europe is the history of right-winged and left-winged dictations battling each other. There was Italy, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Austria, etc. etc. each either communist or facist.