I was invited to join two groups on Facebook. I'm always kind of flattered when invites like that pop up cause, like most people, my ego likes to be stroked every now and then too. However, these two groups were vigilante groups. That's not just my opinion by the way - one was actually called that!
I did take a wee look, as you do, and most of the posts were by one man who, by all accounts, is a bit pissed off the Justice system of New Zealand or, as he likes to refer to them - a bunch of soft cocks.
I got two things to say about this:
One, why oh why is it that men (generally) fall back on bits of their anatomy to either insight a challenge or/and defend against one? I've seen posts where men tell other men to bring their willies to war (in more graphic terms) as if it's the size of their appendage that matters and not what's between their ears. I know, it might be the latest form of gallant behavior but...I dunno, there's something real non-romantic about that kind of heroism. I wonder how men would react if women started calling each other puny clit or, God forbid, little labia losers. I think I'd piss myself laughing if some chick got so tongue tied they resorted to bodily assaults and I think, so would she.
The second thing I have to say about these groups is ... I was really tempted to join. I am still thinking about it. I found it hard to argue with any of the points they make. In one posted story, the step-father of a young child who was kidnapped, raped over a 22 hour period, and buried alive while he frantically searched for her body was arrested for threatening to kill the murderer. He may have got a suspended sentence and a lot of sympathy from the general public but he also has a criminal record as a result of that threat.
I could see myself as one of those "noisy" protesters, outside the Court room, when he was dragged before a real pissed off Judge. If I push the envelope a little more and imagine that was my child, I would be the one standing defiantly in front of the judge with a concealed shotgun ready to take a pop at the murderer myself. But we're not allowed to think that, let alone say it or act out on it, and I'm pretty sure these groups aren't encouraging that...or are they?
That question was the one thing that stopped me from joining the group. I don't want to be seen as a Lawless vigilante but...but...but... if I was the victim of such a crime or the parent of one, would I actually have a choice? Wouldn't I just become one by default, by the course of human nature?
I remember watching the movie A Time to Kill where actor, Samuel L. Jackson, plays the father of a rape victim. As the two accused are led into the Courtroom, he opens fire and kills them both. That is pretty much the opening scene. As a viewer, you start watching this movie in support of the legal system. You intellectually know that the two accused were "innocent before proven guilty," but it doesn't take long for your opinion to start wavering when you're asked, what would you do it that happened to your kid? By the way, they were guilty so any PC thoughts you may have had soon get squashed and a sense of justice prevails.
So, will I join those groups and by doing so, be guilty by association in support of vigilantes or just have really strong viewpoints on our current criminal system and do nothing? Is there really a time to kill?
I wouldn't hesitate for a nano-second to take out someone if they touched my children, period! And I say that hand-on-heart, sober, my faculties about me...and I would support any other parent who did the same. I would have failed as a Mother if I didn't do just that :)
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