this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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I just hate suffering so much, even the suffering of those deliberately causing suffering. It's a weird philosophical paradox I struggle with and I'm not sure how to resolve it.
Well you're better than me because I have definitely relished in the suffering of those who've caused suffering. World needs less of me tbh.
I don't think it's "better", necessarily. It's partly a protective measure against empathising with people who cause suffering. Because I don't want to suffer.
Aggression against people who cause suffering is a different protection mechanism, and we are both just products of our experiences.
The world needs more people who can engage with self-awareness and evaluating their motives and actions, which you seem able to do. I wish you no suffering!
Having both types of people is important to a healthy society. The world needs paladins, those willing to wield violence in the pursuit of justice. A society without them would be ripe for strongarming by anyone with a loose set of morals and empty pockets. But we also need people like you, to keep us in check, so that the whole world might not go blind from our eye for an eye.
It's not that hard to resolve. In an ideal situation, the fascists would drop dead without feeling anything. I agree that suffering is wrong, but death is natural and comes for everyone eventually.
Also, if you got hit with I gun that big I don't think there would be much time to suffer.
Perhaps I should clarify, actively causing death is what I struggle with. At what point does adding to death cause less deaths? How do we determine that? Even if we are able to somehow cause those deaths to be as painless and targetted as possible, it still causes suffering and inspires revenge from their family and friends. Under what circumstances do we justify it?
I haven't found an answer I'm satisfied with yet that doesn't somehow require clairvoyance.