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Comment by tptacek

16 hours ago

What does this have to do with what he just said?

That most people have a simplistic, naive, and child-like perspective of the world. One based on just-desserts, on causality, on fairness.

You see, there are good people and bad people. Giving the good people more tools is always good, because they're good people. If you're a good person, you need not worry either. Bad things don't happen to good people.

Cops are good guys, criminals are bad guys. The government fighting criminals is good. If you get caught up in it - well, that's fine right? Because you're a good guy, too. So that's good for you. And, if something bad DOES happen to you... well then you were never a good guy. Obviously, because bad things happen to bad people.

We see this in so many things. Well, rich people MUST be hardworking and moral, right? Because good things have happened to them, so they must be good. Well, the janitor must be lazy or stupid right? Because their job is bad, so they must be bad. Well, the cops raiding my house must be good thing right? Because I'm good!

If there's one thing I have learned from life, it's that life is not fair. Children starve, innocents get murdered, the evil can thrive, and happiness isn't doled out to who deserves it. It's never about who deserved what or what is right. It's about systems, structure, and incentives.

  • He didn't say any of these things.

    If you have to make a caricature of his arguments to so much as address them, what does that say about the strength of your own argument?

  • We don't have a jury system in my country for the same reason we don't grab randos off the street to operate nuclear reactors.

    Being a judge is an actual job that requires training and experience.

    Ofcourse it makes court cases a lot more boring if you are dealing with someone who knows what they are doing.