Is murder ever justified ?

The topic selected:  Is murder ever justified, excluding euthanasia and war? Jaye Dod’s question, I believe.  The rendered answer, or short answer, seems to be yes.

The meeting began with the question or need to clarify what we mean by murder.  This was discussed that we mean murder that is homicide in a legal sense.

This brought forth for those involved to make a distinction that we are more interested in murder/homicide from a moral perspective rather than a legal perspective.

The next idea was an interjection of a combination of personal experience and hypothetical questioning about the nature of an abusive relationship.  This I believe led the discussion into an area of questioning or trying to understand if there is a tipping point of acceptable amounts or types of abuse, to an unacceptable amount of abuse. 

Inserted to this contemplation of abuse hung the subject of category, or categories of abuse, namely: Emotional Abuse and Physical Abuse.

Also inserted into the realm of contemplation is how to determine what constitutes abuse.

As the discussion is in the habit of wandering, a couple of hypotheticals were posited for deliberation. One noted was a classical dilemma loosely conveyed about whether a person’s action or inaction will cause the death of one set of people, or another constitute murder/homicide.

Another scenario proffered was the seemingly unreasonable overreaction of fly swatter attacks.  This later buffered with the bringing the fly swatter to a gun fight defense. (kind of).

Tangential Discussion and Books

• The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
• Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddox
• Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean

• Finland & Denmark: Happiness Studies
• Education Systems
• American Legislative Exchange Counsel (ALEC)
• Politics Girl Podcast

Jeffery Munroe