what i’m getting at frank, is that, given what you’ve said above, prior to your kids being born there must’ve been a time when this wouldn’t have affected you in the same manner. ergo, is your response to a crime predicated upon empathy rather than an innate sense of right/wrong.
as to what i’d suggest, that’s really not what i was asking is it? the question is one you might have to answer when your daughters are old enough to ask it.
when she was wee my daughter’s concern were more about censorship and sexism than violence. we had lots of entertaining exchanges, esp as she got older, mainly because she knew if she expressed an opinion she’d better be willing to back it up and, esp if she was wanting me to go in to bat for her, to be sure about her justifications. she grew up pretty well in spite of that!
so, if she’d been discussing the above with me my response would be that it bothers me whenever someone has violence done against them and that, rather than getting angry towards the perpetrator or the case, the details of which we can’t know beyond a media report we should remember that there are a pair of parents somewhere who will be feeling powerless, bereft and in a place none of us would ever want to be. my concern would be for them and their families and my energies would be directed towards that.
as for the guy that did it. as long as he’s had his due process they can drop him down a well for all i care.
