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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!aluxe!jmd
From: jmd@aluxe.UUCP (Joseph M. Dakes, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, Pa.)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!
Message-ID: <612@aluxe.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 11-Jan-85 09:33:19 EST
Article-I.D.: aluxe.612
Posted: Fri Jan 11 09:33:19 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Jan-85 05:41:35 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Allentown, PA
Lines: 33

I tried to post this article yesterday but, inews didn't seem to be working.
However, if it was posted - what can I say?  Sorry.

>Why don't you face up to the fact that what Goetz did was WRONG!  The
>kids weren't necessarily right, but he was dead wrong! I'm sure the
>NYCPD has a nice long list of charges against him, and I think they
>should press every one of them.  Maybe it'll teach people to use the
>justice system we have in the US and not create their own.  In case you
>hadn't realized it, vigilantes are at least as dangerous as other
>criminals!

I could just see it now.  There you are being mugged but, wait, you have the
justice system on your side.  You inform the muggers of this and politely ask
them to wait while you go find a policeman.:)

The only person who knows if Goetz's life was endangered is Goetz himself.  If
his life truly was endangered then he did the right thing; he defended himself.
If he did not defend himself he could have been seriously beaten or worse (he
could have been murdered).  No justice system in the world could make amends to
that.

Also, during great emotional stress, such as the fear and hate one experiences
while being a mugging victim, a person tends to act irrationally.  This could
very easily explains Goetz's behavior.  He was wrong to leave the scene but,
he was probably very frightened at what he had just done.  Being a mugging
victim and shooting four people isn't something he did everyday.  It's very
easy to say what he should have done while we're safely concealed in front of
our terminals not knowing exactly what the man was going through.

							Joseph M. Dakes
							AT&T Bell Laboratories
							Reading, PA
							aluxe!jmd