DEATH PENALTY DEBATE!!

....sigh.... guys, if i wanted to read about the incalculably complicated for/against battle concerning the death penalty, i'd f--king SURELY go somewhere other than the message boards of the Internet Movie Database; somewhere where madman rants such as "The death penalty is a tool to keep POOR people down" (yes, that's an actual subject entry for a comment written by someone who clearly frequents ONLY the most base, hysterically-pitched conspiracy websites in the entirety of this vast information highway of ours, theirs and all.

i would MUCH prefer studying measured...thoughtful debate over this...GROSSLY depressing mess of inflammatory name-calling that these rabble-rousers have the gall to call DEBATE.

seems that when participating in this shambolic, perverse dance you're either an "'N' word-loving f--got", who duly represents the side AGAINST the death penalty, or a "brash, idiotic redneck bible-thumper" staunchly FOR it.

there's just...not much room for level-headed discourse when most of the time spent writing your response is spent thinking of the most cruel insults possible to hurl at your so-called mortal enemy! at least, that's how it seems to me...we will never, NEVER make peace...get along while people hold beliefs that whole political persuasions - intertwining, hugely complex prisms representing people's beliefs, principals and moral convictions - reduced to crude insults - personal attacks on people's deepest values, designed for maximum impact... and maximum response.

it's like we're all back in, like, 1860-61 -> our fellow countrymen, not but despised, mortal enemies. calm, rational conversation entirely out of the question...now...forever...it really does just kinda break my heart.

chalk that up to my lame, spineless fence-sitting centrist political views.