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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   29425 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 19, 2024

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Punishment being disproportionate is how people build moral systems that are effective in keeping people from breaking them all the time.

Whatever happened to "an eye for an eye"? Or to use Scott's preferred historical example:

Chen Sheng was an officer serving the Qin Dynasty, famous for their draconian punishments. He was supposed to lead his army to a rendezvous point, but he got delayed by heavy rains and it became clear he was going to arrive late. The way I always hear the story told is this:

Chen turns to his friend Wu Guang and asks “What’s the penalty for being late?”

“Death,” says Wu.

“And what’s the penalty for rebellion?”

“Death,” says Wu.

“Well then…” says Chen Sheng.

And thus began the famous Dazexiang Uprising, which caused thousands of deaths and helped usher in a period of instability and chaos that resulted in the fall of the Qin Dynasty three years later.

Whatever happened to "an eye for an eye"?

It fell to the Chicago Way. "He pulls a knife, you pull a gun, he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue."

I didn't like that movie at all.

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