Sympathy for the Devil

[Xamonas Chegwé]

For those of you that don't do facebook. This is what I wrote there after seeing a news report on the SC shootings...

Some relatives of the murdered chuch-goers in South Carolina have forgiven Dylann Roof.

So, let's see how loudly they protest when he gets sentenced, shall we?

He did a terrible thing. He killed fellow human beings. Deprived them of the only life they will EVER have for no other reason than the colour of their skin.

And you forgive him? Really? What makes you think you have the right to do that? The people he killed aren't waiting for you in heaven. They are dead. Finished. Gone. And that cunt did it to them. Forgive him? For being a racist, shit-brained scumbag? For firing his lead-filled, surrogate dick into people's bodies? Why would any sane person, relative to one of his victims, even consider doing that?

Because that is what your fucked-up belief in some dead jewish guy, as filtered through a thousand, money-hungry, lying, TV evangelists, tells you you are SUPPOSED to do!

Well fuck that! You are not "supposed" to feel anything that you do not feel and, having watched your faces when you "forgave" this piece of human excrement, I know that not one of you really felt like forgiving him at all!

Perhaps, in years to come, when he has had a chance to reflect on his actions. When he has grown and changed and come to realise just how far he was led down the garden path by those that he believed in. When he has shed true tears of remorse for his acts of murder. When he has wished himself dead instead of those he killed. When, and if, this ever happens, THEN would be the time to forgive him.

But not now. Now he is no more worthy of your forgiveness than the dogshit that you find on the sole of your shoe and the living room carpet.

[pErvinalia]

YEah, I must admit I was pretty stunned by them forgiving him a day after it happened. That's fucked up. As you say, maybe in a couple of years,, but not this soon. It can't be really genuine.

[JimC]

In some cases, the forgiveness is more about people's desires not to be constantly consumed by hate - forgiveness becomes a code word for trying to moderate one's own emotional reactions, for reasons to do with trying to regain a normal life...

[cronus]

The desire to forgive comes first. Revenge is something requiring time. That's how half the human race thinks, including my wife.

[pErvinalia]

In some cases, the forgiveness is more about people's desires not to be constantly consumed by hate - forgiveness becomes a code word for trying to moderate one's own emotional reactions, for reasons to do with trying to regain a normal life...

Yeah, this is definitely true. But after one day? Man, that's some internal will power going on there. I wonder if they truly believe it or whether they are doing it as they think their religion requires it of them.

[laklak]

I don't forgive. I may say that I have, but in reality I'm plotting a drawn out and hellish revenge.

[klr]

I lean much more towards XC's position here.

I mean, let's face it: By their logic, he ought to be released back onto the streets ASAP.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

In case my point escaped anyone. My point here was that no-one touched by personal tragedy at the hands of a murderer, such as in this case, could possibly forgive that person within a day of the event. They simply would not feel that way!

Behind this "forgiveness" is an expectation that, as christians, they ought to forgive that person. They do it because that is what you do in this situation, isn't it? I mean, that's what the parents of the Sandy Hook massacre did. That's what the relatives of those killed on 9/11 did. That's what the Columbine... Oh, just fuck off! You are faking it! You do not feel forgiveness for the person that robbed you of your child, your brother, your mother, your best friend - you simply do not! Nobody could and there is nothing wrong with that! You feel a massive empty chasm of loss, a sense of frustration and inability, a hatred for the person(s) that caused this tragedy, a profound need for the clock to be turned back and for this never, ever, to have happened. If you feel any positive feelings at all toward the perpetrator, it is that of helpless pity - such as you might feel toward a rabid dog. But you do NOT forgive that person and CANNOT ask your negative emotions toward them to stand down. You will not be able to do that for many months - or years - maybe never.

What is sick is that it has become the "accepted thing" to profess forgiveness when you actually feel anything but! There is an expectation that you lie about your true feelings. There is pressure to act unnaturally. And this is not a healthy thing. It is only ever going to delay the necessary healing process. It is going to make you think that you are somehow inadequate because, although you have professed what you are supposed to profess, you don't really feel that way. You are adding to the lies by which you live your life - we all have some - and that is never, ever, healthy.

How you feel is how you feel and is the ONLY way you are supposed to feel. Accept it. Learn from it. Deal with it. Don't fake it!

[laklak]

I imagine many of them want to forgive, because that's what their religion tells them they must do. Fake it till you make it, or something like that. I'd be seeing if I could find someone on the inside to kick a can of creamed corn up the little fucker's arse in return for $100 in his prison commissary account.

[mistermack]

If you REALLY believed the Christian shit, then he's sent the victims to a better place.
They are the lucky ones.
I know. It's ludicrous. But if you REALLY believe that, it would be easier to forgive.

I doubt if that's what's happening though.

They have been conditioned to think like sheep, and follow their leaders.
And their leaders preach forgiveness, because jebus did.

So they suppress their natural feelings, and blindly follow their preacher, in ''forgiving'' the pile of shit. After all, it's only words. They don't mean anything.

Put them in charge of his sentencing, and lets see if they REALLY forgive him.

[DaveDodo007]

Vicarious redemption is a strange beast and yet it is the mainstay of many religions. You can't tell people they are broken and that they can be cured without it I suppose.