Blog Stage Seven: Original Commentary #2

A couple of weeks ago, Lauren Pierce (my sister) was on ABC News and all the local channels because of a tweet that she wrote. The tweet is shown above.

With one tweet, she had her fifteen seconds of fame.

As a result of her being the President of College Republicans at the University of Texas at Austin, her tweet received a lot of hype. Now, if she was just another random person that wasn't affiliated with a certain political group... would the tweet be on the news? I think not.

Most of the articles that were written about Lauren's tweet were titled:
"Lauren Pierce, President Of College Republicans At University Of Texas At Austin: Obama Assassination 'Tempting' ". (something to that effect)
The word that they emphasized was "Tempting".
As if she had a rifle in her hand and was saying let's go do it, y'all.
Of course, that was not the case. The emphasis on the word "tempting" was just to make a good headline and cause hype or interest.

In the words of my sister: "It must be a slow news day".

Power of the media.
A single quote will prompt calls from the secret service and the UT police.

The problem was that people didn't read her whole quote.
Perhaps, they were too dyslexic to read the entire quote.
Perhaps, they don't have a sense of humor.

Lauren received death threats and vulgar comments.
Behind a computer screen, people can be so vicious and horrible.
Where are the consequences for that?

People feel empowered when they're behind the computer screen, saying anything and everything they please. The reason for that is because there is no face to face interaction involved.

Tweeting, Facebook, and texting are now as common as talking except for one thing
- it's in writing.
Sure, people have the freedom to say anything, but they may face some unwanted consequences as a result. Freedom of Speech does not free you of being held accountable for what you say.

Threatening the President of the United States is a class D felony under United States Code Title 18, Section 871. It consist of  making "any threat to take the life of... or inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States".
No, Lauren wasn't threatening the President's life. She even said "... don't shoot Obama".

I find it funny that the people making those comments (more like insults) saying she's dumb and whatever else, are showing their low intelligence through their choice of words.

Their comments were stupid, funny, and untrue all at the same time. It's truly amazing.
Isn't it funny that people threatened her life because they believed that she threatened Obama's life?
How ironic.

As Harvey Danger's song Flagpole Sitta says: "been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding, the cretins cloning and feeding" and apparently using the computer to make harsh anonymous comments.
Yes, I did just use that quote because it was too "tempting".

Blog Stage Six: "Comment on Colleague's work"

In Travis' original editorial called "Ultimate Justice", he basically says that Texas should stop sentencing people to death which "is an outdated unmoral punishment that we need to rise above from and join the  rest of civilized society."

"We even lead the nation in the most executions of all time!"
"Hell, in Texas I believe that's a cause for celebration!"
Well, no. People would be celebrating if there were less murderers and attempted murders.
It's sort of ironic that you say hell because that's where most criminals go.

"Capital punishment... is actually 4 times more expensive to execute a person than to give them life."
That's a problem. We need to find cheaper ways to kill them. I suggest a bullet to the head or maybe two just in case. Seriously, there are so many restrictions about how to kill them because we try to reduce their pain and discomfort. Oh the irony! Did their victims have the same luxury? I don't think so.

"... while everyone else in the world is becoming more morally aware and civilized, we are applauding the fact that we execute more prisoners than any other state."
People get to go to court. We don't shoot them or hang them from a tree anymore like people used to do in the olden days. People who commit crimes deserve a punishment and ultimately nothing we, humans, decide is enough for a horrendous criminal.
Yes, only God can sort things out.

"Capital punishment is an outdated unmoral punishment that we need to rise above from and join the rest of civilized society."
Wait a second, immoral? There are rapists and murderers. And the people that believe they should be sentenced to death are, in your book, immoral? Wow.
I think that rapists get off with too short of a sentence and murderers well, they already did something immoral and uncivilized. Didn't they?

"We as a people need to open our hearts to rehabilitation instead of condemnation."
That part made me laugh a bit. Honestly, the only person who believes that everyone can still be saved and that there is hope for them to change is Jesus. I'm not Jesus. I don't think that everyone changes. Some psychopaths will be psychopaths. Other criminals could change and feel guilty, but it's a little too late.
Texas Chain Saw Massacre ring a bell?
Shall we open our hearts to them? No, they'll just eat them!

'As Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu quoted, "To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice." '
Murderers take lives, and we should just let them sit in jail and continue to live while their victims don't.
Come on! If someone murdered you, would you say Kum By Yah and wish them a long life where they are fed, clothed, housed, and breathing.

Everyone is going to die. The only question is when.
People who do heinous crimes deserve to get their lives shortened.
In the past, people were lucky if they lived until what we now call middle age. 

Ultimate justice is something that only God can deliver.
We only shorten the time span that people have on this earth.