Have you heard about this chilling story of long-term abuse and torture inflicted on a mentally handicapped woman in Illinois?
From CNN:
Banished to the basement, the 29-year-old mother with a childlike mind and another baby on the way had little more than a thin rug and a mattress to call her own on the chilly concrete floor.
Dorothy Dixon ate what she could forage from the refrigerator upstairs, where housemates used her for target practice with BBs, burned her with a glue gun and doused her with scalding liquid that peeled away her skin.
They torched what few clothes she had, so she walked around naked. They often pummeled her with an aluminum bat or metal handle.
Dixon -- six months pregnant -- died after weeks of abuse.
Hayes watched the autopsy and found her injuries disturbing. X-rays revealed roughly 30 BBs lodged in her. Deep-tissue burns covered about one-third of her body -- her face, her chest, her arms and feet -- and left her severely dehydrated. Her face and body showed signs of prolonged abuse. Many of her wounds were infected.
Most of us probably cringe at the thought of such treatment of a human being.
But think about it, though. If we're simply highly evolved animals, with no eternal soul and no accountability to a Supreme Being, what does it matter?
Really, what does it matter? Why should we consider it wrong to torture a human like this? Why would we consider it wrong to pick apart or smash a rock? So what if the human feels pain--it's not going to matter once the human is dead, right? It'll be over and that will be that.
What does it matter to the person who conducts the torture? It's not like they're going to be punished in some afterlife for what they've done, right? If it was right for the person conducting the torture to do that, who are we to judge them? What may be wrong for us might not be wrong for them, right?
So why do so many of us recoil when we hear a story of such treatment?
11 comments:
You think that the promise of a pleasant afterlife is the only incentive for treating each other with respect and kindness?
One doesn't need to believe in God or eternal rewards to condemn torture.
The most reasonable and logical answer would be that humans evolved a moral compass that ensures our survival as a species. If no one cared that someone was tortured and murdered, everyone would torture and murder and we would not be where we are today.
Of course, we could do it your way and say the Easter Bunny gave us a sense of morality or whatever it is you people believe.
The same kind of monsters who commited this crime can be found in the moron who wrote this first post named Bob Ellis. So What?? So What... Bob. We recoil... becuase we are human. We have feelings. And it is wrong to do what they did. It is beyond horrific. It is not fair... and yeah... you are a moron just for asking that stupid, small, mindless question. Geezus... where did a moron like you even learn to read, write or use a computer. Do us a favor and stop breathing.
Anonymous 2:02 - That's exactly the question I'm asking: if human beings are simply highly evolved animals with no accountability to a Supreme Being, what does it matter if we treat someone like this woman was treated?
Anonymous 3:13 - You say we "evolved a moral compass" to ensure our survival as a species. That sounds counterproductive. In survival mode, if such a woman had resources we wanted or needed for ourselves, wouldn't our evolved drive to survive demand that we take what we want from her?
Besides, she was mentally disabled. Shouldn't our survival instinct as a species demand we kill her to strengthen the species? We wouldn't want such inferior genetic traits to continue, would we? Preserving someone like this would be illogical and inconsistent with a drive to preserve the species.
Besides, why would we evolve a survival instinct for the species, when a survival instinct for the individual organism should be more than sufficient? For that matter, what does it matter if the species survives or not? If the human race goes away, so what?
What's more, if your supposition is correct, why feel the compassion? If you could ignore the perpetuation of an undesirable genetic trait for a moment, why not simply experience regret that the number of our species had been reduced by one? What's the point of the compassionate feeling when in the end it really doesn't matter?
Anonymous 3:26 - Don't you have any compassionate feelings for me? Why do you want me to just "stop breathing" and die?
You say "we are human. We have feelings" is the reason we recoil. That doesn't answer the question. I'm asking: Why? You say "It is wrong to do what they did." I'm asking: Why?
Bob,
It is wrong because those actions hurt the woman. I happen to live in a society where laws are enacted to protect individuals from unwarranted damage by other citizens. These actions were unwarranted. Societies can be civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments and laws. Society determines what is acceptable and not acceptable by way of harm verus benefits. Much of what society deems appropriate is based on the idea of treating others as you would like to be treated. In this case, I would not want someone to to me or another person. I don't want you to die and I'm sorry someoen said that in an earlier post. Also, sorry my spell checker is broken.
I guess we should say it's wrong to treat someone like that because God says so, right Bob?
Well, read your Bible my friend... God's asked some of his "children" to do worse -- much worse -- unto other of his "children". Or do you cherry pick the Bible for passages and phrases that suit the morality that your society defines acceptable, and leave the rest on the table like all these so called Christians do?
It's wrong because she was ruthlessly victimized, without cause, and could not defend or help herself. And, yes, that arouses the defense instinct in all of us... because a defenseless member of our troupe is in pain or agony, and yes, Evolution gave us the moral sentiment necessary to protect and defend our weakest and most defenseless against harm, first with concern for our own children and over time with an ever widening circle of concern that extends far beyond our own kin.
It certainly would be wrong to say our disgust simply as a result of the moral guidance and teaching that was handed down to us from some invisible entity in the sky. If the only reason that you're good in this life is out of a fear of such a being, then you're no good at all.
Don't worry about the spell checker, Anon 2:29. Sometimes I forget to use mine.
What you said is a pretty good treatise on why treating this woman like this is wrong. But take it back a step further.
Why should we bother treating another person the way we'd like to be treated, especially if we have it within our power to protect ourselves from mistreatment, or in this case, if the object of our treatment can't retaliate?
On what basis do we see more benefit in treating her with dignity and compassion, versus getting a little fun out of her, as these people did? Especially if once we die, it's all over, with no afterlife and no accountability?
SimonW, where in the the Bible did God ask some of his children to torture other human beings?
Moving on, why is it wrong simply because she was ruthlessly victimized, without cause, and could not defend or help herself? What loss is there to the people who tortured her, and what loss is there to the world?
How did evolution give us this moral sentiment? Sounds like some kind of intelligent design (gave us?). What purpose does expending energy and potentially risk in protecting another organism serve for the organism with the "defense of others" instinct? Perhaps if the defended organism could do something for the defended organism, then there might be some benefit...but if it had the capability to provide something for the defending organism, then why couldn't it defend itself?
So what's the point? Why not just kill the weaker organism and get it out of the way? That way, it's not consuming resources the other organisms can use, and not contaminating the gene pool. That seems a more logical mechanism, doesn't it?
I’m totally with Bob, as a baptized Christian, I love and forgive these people. Their behavior won’t be judged by me – that’s for God to do. All I have to give is love. I pray they see the error of their ways and allow Jesus into their lives, for without accepting Jesus Christ as their savior they won’t do too well in the afterlife.
If only I could meet with them, talk to them and tell them of our savior and my love for them they could be saved. I’d gladly give my own life if it meant their souls could be saved – take me now Jesus, if it can help these poor lost souls!
Let me wash their feet, comfort and love them so that they may see the error of their ways. Let them beat and torture me so that they may see the error or their ways. If only my suffering can save them then bring it on. I have nothing to fear because Jesus is in my Life.
I urge all of you to pray for these people. The victim is already wherever they deserve to be, its up to us to save those left behind - so they won't be left behind.
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