Being anti-death penalty is literally the easiest stance ever. People just say "but should the state kill THIS type of person?" and you just say "no". Not killing people is so fucking easy actually
Failing at critical thinking by dint of being ignorant of the magical Kill Only The Bad People Who Deserve It And Nobody Else button that we have. Apparently
It goes like this:
Okay, let's say that these people mentioned *do* deserve to die, just for the sake of argument.
Who gets to decide that they do? Who actually genuinely has the right to make the final decision, specifically?
Is it the judge? Is it the lawmakers? It can't be you. It can't be a case by case basis where you get input, this is being carried out by the state.
Do you trust those people to never ever get it wrong? Do you trust the state?
If you do trust them, you aren't paying attention to literally anything that has ever happened in this or any country.
If you don't trust them, you must shift your stance to oppose the death penalty because a circumstance where an innocent person is killed is unacceptable.
Peeling back the curtain, yeah, my personal feelings are that there *are* people who should stop being alive. I don't think that's a good thought for me to have, but I have it.
And I don't trust the fucking state, or myself, or judge, or a panel of people, or ANYONE to be able to, with ZERO false positives, make that determination. No one, no one, NO ONE has the right to make that call because no one can always get it right.
So I oppose the death penalty even though, yeah, my gut reaction is that certain people who have severely harmed others and will do so again should be killed. But the death penalty is wrong. For even a single innocent person to die is a moral failing, an unacceptable loss. There is not and never will be a way to administer that fairly and perfectly.
You must oppose the death penalty. It is your moral duty.
I become very uncomfortable with "Just kill anyone who's a pedophile" when there are ongoing efforts to have the act of me (a man) kissing my husband where children can see get labeled as pedophilia.
It's not that these people want to make public displays of non-straightcis romantic feelings punishable by death. They just want them labeled as being this other thing that's (under 'kill all pedos' laws) already punishable by death. Completely different.
