Keith's "Justice" is fucking dumb

[revenant]

I don't know if this topic was already beat to death here on the forums, but I wanted to chime in and add something I haven't heard anyone else say to Keith on the show. Specifically, if Keith ever happens to read this thread, I wanted to explain to him why so many people react to Keith's Law by saying "Even for littering?" And it's not because everyone has to litter so fucking bad.

I'm in my last year in law school right now, and in my 1st year I was forced to take Criminal Law, so I remember a few concepts here and there. With regard to sentencing (which is what Keith's Law is all about), one of the fundamental principles that are behind the system is proportionality. It is an absolutely essential aspect of sentencing because it is what makes the sentence just.

Most people know this by intuition, such as when they see on the news a robber get 10 years in jail and some rapist gets 3, and that rubs them the wrong way. It is because we accept that for an act of greater severity, the punishment should be more severe. Robbery is a good example of this - there are different levels of punishment depending on how it occurred (whether a weapon was involved, whether it was a gun, whether the robber pointed it at the person and threatened them, and whether they shot in the air to prove their point). It is logical and just to punish more severely acts of increasing violence. They show the seriousness and threat that the individual presents, and thus he should be punished accordingly.

And that's why people are so surprised that Keith's Law applies "even to littering". It is because this law is ridiculous, and calling it justice is laughable because it is the exact opposite. Keith's Law is fundamentally unjust because even for an offense of the most minor severity and consequence, we'd impose the harshest of punishments. This is a perversion of justice, and nobody with a straight sense of morality will stand for it. We'd have a fucked up draconian system that the public will not accept and rebel against. And it will never work unless you shove it down our throats 1984 style.

And that's why it is Keith's fucked up little Law, and not Keith's Justice. Because justice requires proportionality between crime and punishment. That is a non-negotiable fact accepted by every system of law that strives for order, fairness, and justice. To disregard it, is FUCKING DUMB!

So I hope that Keith doesn't really believe in it as much as it seems on the show. He does have a tendency to push things further on the show than he actually thinks, and it's often hard to tell if he truly believes something or is just pushing it. Otherwise it'd be pretty hard to respect anything he has to say - kinda how Keith struggles with respecting Spooky after hearing that Spooky thinks Wanted is a good movie.

[m0o0op]

Point taken.

In the head, or in the chest?

[djoh615893]

It just seems to me that you took the whole thing very seriously. Were you able to sense that Keith is very fucking jaded by the asshole masses that have no fucking sense of what adults are expected to do? Things like doing their part, just a little every day, to keep our cities and living areas NOT FUCKED UP? What about something that overrides the desire to do severe acts of injustice like violent crime, senseless damage, and other injustices to their fellow humans? By the time I heard of his idea, I had already pondered the same things like "what if I were allowed to beat the fucking life out of the asshole that plows into me in traffic because he was a fucking idiot that talks too much on his phone while trying to low-ride his piece of shit Impala instead of paying attention to driving?" It's a nice thought, yet obviously not realistic nor acceptable except in our own angry minds.

[Newsy]

This whole thread is disregarded. Of course you don't agree. You're canadian. Notice I didn't even capitalize the C. That's how much I don't respect your country.

[MalcolmSmith]

Who is to determine if one crime is more severe or consequential than another? The justness of Keith's justice is that it treats everyone and every offense with complete balance and equanimity. If you, or anyone, are caught red-handed, breaking any law, you die. What's fairer than that? No racism, no classism, no sexism, just the breath of fresh air that is... sudden death.

And if your de jure proportionality is so essential, so fundamental, why does it de facto not exist? What about the crack vs. powered cocaine debate? Madoff's crime is HUGE. Should he be tortured? Flayed alive? If proportionality is so great, why do we have such a high incarceration rate? Are all of the sentences too low to effect deterrence? Ah ha! Maybe the proportionality of Keith's justice, in effectively eliminating crime, zeroing out the crime rate, is the most human, most fair, most just? The point of Keith's justice is that a lack of adequate proportionality is the problem. There is a fatal flaw (no pun intended) with Keith's justice, but it has nothing to do with the myth of proportionality.

[golgi body]

You have a problem with this, but not the shit-shake serving Malley?

[Smitho]

This is what gives Canada a bad name.

Whats the difference between a lawyer and a catfish?

Ones a bottom feeding scum sucker, the other one's a fish.

[jeffdrafttech]

Originally Posted by revenant

Keith's "Justice" is fucking dumb

Nuh uh, you are (tongue stick out face)

I get all of my philosophy from this show and Keith is right because Keith is funny.

comedians > reason

[picard102]

Originally Posted by revenant

Because justice requires proportionality between crime and punishment.

No it does not, what is proportional and isn't is subjective.

[Keith]

Why don't you bring up the housing conversation in 2010?

Fuck you. YOU'RE dumb.


You think about My Justice before you litter, and then you don't litter. What a shame.

But no, I know you've never littered and you tip 5,000%.


How dare you.