On the road again! UD trusts the courts of Athens Georgia will once again very quickly put Whitney Howard behind the wheel. So far she’s only killed one person, whereas it’s obvious she’s got the potential to produce far more carnage than that.
On the road again! UD trusts the courts of Athens Georgia will once again very quickly put Whitney Howard behind the wheel. So far she’s only killed one person, whereas it’s obvious she’s got the potential to produce far more carnage than that.
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December 13th, 2016 at 2:18PM
I have a strange reaction –maybe not so strange among you and your readers–to these stories that reminds me of Jastrow’s bistable duck-rabbit figure, familiar to readers of Philosophical Investigations:
https://www.google.com/search?q=jastrow+duck+rabbit&rlz=1CASMAE_enUS588US588&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=631&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwisv4fb7_HQAhVBD5AKHRhPAHQQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=iyn6q48e6GkX9M%3A
I see one contemptible person and one admirable victim and then I see two people in sad situations.
It’s hard to choose. I understand your comment is more utilitarian — stop the likely future harm — than a condemnation of a person. But my gut reaction is to always see the two things I described — one of them endlessly after the other — but not both at the same time. Except for real monsters then I just allow myself to react in a visceral human way.
One level beyond this, I think I’m a determinist — who is just blissfully able to forget most of the time that we are all, in some sense, wind-up toys.
December 13th, 2016 at 2:49PM
Greg: The judges who let her get back on the road are the contemptible people here. I agree that this woman is unlikely to be a monster. She is a menace who desperately needs to be off the road. Only jail time, I think, will have any effect. She’ll keep getting into cars whether or not she’s been told she can’t.
December 13th, 2016 at 4:56PM
That’s exactly how I understood you.
December 14th, 2016 at 8:21AM
It’s not unusual in these parts to read about a 30-something with 10+ DUI convictions, usually accompanied by tons of other offenses, being caught yet again. I keep wondering how they get out so easily–most of these people are not rich, by the way–and who is crazy enough to let them have a set of car keys.