The man was shot with his own gun during a break in. Now what do you think?
Without knowing anything else you probably have some reasoned reaction. But what we know determines how we feel, what and who we blame, and what we think should be done about it.
How have your feelings and reactions to that story different from the first. Keep those questions in mind, there's more to the story, but I want you to question how you feel about the situation based on what you know at the time. Who do you blame, who do you feel sympathy for, and what is the underlying cause?
As you reveal each detail of the case please pause and consider how you feel, or would feel, if that were all the information you knew, gleaned from a news article in passing.
The man was shot by his ex-girlfriend, they had a hard break up 2 months ago.
His Ex had broken into his house knowing he would be out. She shot him when he came home. She was apprehended a few hours later.
She was burgling his house to take some things she felt should be hers. The ownership of shared things is often complicated, but as she confessed to the police it was clear that while some of the things she had intended to take could reasonably claimed as hers, that 'getting him back' was a large part of her motive.
The man was shot multiple times with his pistol, which he kept in his sock drawer.
She wasn't expecting him to come home, he was supposed to be out of town with friends. He came home very drunk.
The man had a history of violence, it wasn't particularly common of him but he had hit her several times before and had beat her fairly badly during their last fight, which precipitated their breakup.
The man didn't notice anything amiss when he came home, he was very drunk and went to lie down on the couch without so much as wondering why the lights were on or noticing that the door had been unlocked before he turned the key. If his Ex had a mind to do so, she could have easily slipped out of the house without further confrontation.
When she heard his car pull up and him entering the house she retrieved his gun, fearing for her own safety. She hid as he came in and as he stumbled to the couch.
He fell asleep nearly as soon as he hit the couch. After realizing he was asleep she watched him for a minute before shooting him with the entire magazine of the pistol.
She was the one who called the police, as she left. He survived.
The End.
Just adding one or two more, so that you might think there is more to the story as you reached the end.
Of course there is. There's always more to every story if you want to get more details. But what they had for breakfast isn't really relevant is it?
Conclusion:
This is a fiction, but I use it as a thought experiment to ponder philosophy and social problems.
As I said: what you know changes how you feel. If all you knew was that a guy's ex girl friend broke into his house 2 months after the break up, stole his gun, and shot him with it you probably would assume she was a crazy stalker and couldn't get over him. You might save your sympathy for him because you don't know her story. Even now your views are likely to be controversial, depending on what weight you put on which crimes.
Any abuse is too much abuse, but clearly there is a difference between one incident, several (what the Ex experienced), and habitual abuse. How much abuse justifies what degrees of vengeance? Does it matter that she felt remorse enough to call an ambulance for him? Should she even have done so? Everybody is human, by which I mean both flawed and wonderful ... in various degrees. Neither the man nor his ex girlfriend are entirely sympathetic characters.
Maybe you want to trace evil back to it's source. She shot him, but her thirst for vengeance was caused by his abuse. Maybe I forgot to mention:
She had an ongoing gambling habit and mild drug problems that burned through a lot of their money, causing intense financial stress.
That doesn't justify violence does it? 2 wrongs don't make a right. But if you want to look for a cause you may be a long time searching, there's always more history and nothing springs entirely from nothing.
Perhaps if you found yourself in their situations you may have reacted the same as they did. 'There, but for the grace of God, go I'.
But the time for pondering has passed. YOU are the judge. Who is responsible and what should be done? You can blame one, both, neither, her drug dealer and his dog, or society writ large. Your verdict may be as slight or as sweeping as you see fit.
What say you?
