Dear Dekho: A couple days ago, in response to khnoom Mahmonir’s reply to Medhi, I said that Mehdi is not a lawyer to split the heir just to convince the opponent. And today he is just dealing with one of these lawyers.
Dear Dekho: Mehdi had said, “ Murder can’t be condemned at all the time.” I am not a lawyer but, I live in USA and have read at least seven books written by American best lawyers, Alan Dershowitz and Gerry Spence and had followed lots of real court cases and I am sure you are not going to disagree with me that “ if two people are drowning in the water and there is only one floating jacket, and one kills the other to have the jacket for himself, the killer can’t be charged with any crime.
You know better than I do, in every criminal cases, the entire situation of the event is brought forward to the court and that not all murders are at he same. Level. A person is dead and there is a big difference between the first degree, second degree, manslaughter that all is based on the condition under which the killing had occurred and the state of the mind of the perpetrator is almost everything. etc. The attorneys does ever thing to show that their client was upset, mentally unstable because of love or hate etc and the murder was not premeditated and as you know most of the times it works. As a matter of fact, the juror system in which the accused have the right to be judged only by his / her peer, tells the logic behind the system. According to you, as far as a murder had happened and all we need in the solid evidence, that should not matter whether the jurors are young, middle age, or old conservative etc. The court does everything to be sure that the trial is fair. Accused ‘s lawyer chooses the jurors based on their gender, age, color, religion etc, --- the accused can be judged more fairly with his peer than with others--- the court first must be convinced that the murder had happened--- conviction phase--- and second it must determine under what condition crime had occurred, -- the penalty phase --- which could be the differences between death penalty, in one extreme – to just probation in other extreme.
Have you ever thought why the penalty for hate crimes are more severs than for say passion crimes?--- after all they are all crimes--- And why in protected categories, of sex, creed, religion, age, nationality and mental/ physical handicap, which people can not be discriminated against in employment, housing etc the religion has even higher value than the others.?
So with all these obvious facts what Mehdi is saying is that, the killer of Van Gogh was not juts a crazy man and that he was deeply hurt and I can guarantee--- also I have no idea how Europeans laws works, and just based on simple common sense--- the court would take into account this hurt feelings. --- Do not believe me, just wait---
Dear Dekho” We do not have to be a rocket scientist to understand that Van Gogh’s movie was provocative. All advertisement agencies know it well. To sell their products, they bring out the best, observable and provocative part of it to touch the desire of the buyers. Record industries knows much better than any philosopher, any psychoanalyst how to tap into people’s emotion, desire and their weak spots. Just add couple unconvential, un customary to the record and you got the blockbuster deal. A semi nude picture and a world even like FUC…. (even with missing last world--) on the cover of the record hits the jackpots and sells more. Yes just the word FUC… not even the full world.
Deborah Tannen is professor of linguist at Georgetown University and had written couple books on communication. Whenever I got the time I will type “ the chapter titled “ Litigation Is War “ of her last book “ The Argumental Culture “ to show how people uses language to divert attention and redirect the course of events for their own benefits. You as a lawyer--- or having studied the law and the others non-lawyers – have done the same in Mehdi’s post and have tried to put the words that you wanted to his mouth and had compared him with Ayat Allah Misbah. From these comments, I know pretty well who looks more like Misbah.
Last but not the least, you have accused of Mehdi's article as an idealist and all I can say is that. Mehdi’s argument is a real and materialistic and yours is an idealist.
Shakespeare was a connoisseur on human personality and I still wonder why he said “ Lets kill the lawyers first.” ---- let me cover my back, I do not believe that we should kill the lawyers, or else I might be labeled lawyer hater Taleban, thirsty for their blood. But really I want to know, do you have any idea why he had said this?
PS: Not long ago, taking on morality of torture was unthinkable in USA and today even the most liberal lawyer and Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz says that under certain condition torture should be permitted. Shocking, is not? Dear Dekho: Time has changed , has not it?