Comments by "cchris874" (@cchris874) on "17-Year-Old Michelle Carter Found Guilty of Coaxing Boyfriend To Suicide" video.

  1. +Super Exho "Life in prison" Oh that's really ridiculous. Yes, she did something very evil. But technically, how can it be manslaughter? If she killed him, then he didn't kill himself? Was his free will rendered null and void because he was depressed? Do we want to live in a society where mere words can get you a life sentence? Come on back down to reality. Way, way over the top. But I sympathize with your emotions. Don't let them carry you away. cheers
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  2. +Super Exho "how was it his fault?" Because he had free will. Unless you want to say anyone with suicidal depression has no free will. If that's the case, then let's be consistent and deny people with suicidal depression the right to vote, or sign wills, or be held accountable in a court of law. Otherwise there's no real principle here.
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  3. +G k Here the thing for me. murder or manslaughter implies that it was involuntary. That the person had no choice. That's why this for me goes over the edge of where the law should go. Roy DID have the free will to say, I'm not doing this. So I agree with the ACLU on this one. Unless we say that depressed people have no control over their actions, it sets a dangerous precedent. I fully agree though, that she did something very evil.
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  4. +Super Exho "she KILLED a person!" Only if he had no free will. The most you could say is that she aided and abetted him and influenced him. That doesn't = killing. HE killed himself. He still had free will. Analogy: a man is threatening to jump from a 10 story building and the crowd gathers around and starts yelling JUMP JUMP. If he jumps, would you call for everyone in the crowd to be executed? Really? Do we want to live in that kind of society where you can be executed for a single word?
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  5. +Riley "is that manslaughter can be proven here [beyond a reasonable doubt]." Part of the problem for me is "beyond reasonable doubt" has very little provable meaning. Here's how I define "reasonable doubt.": If you can come up with a plausible scenario, i.e., one which is not exceptionally fanciful or or preposterous, then it counts as reasonable doubt. Is it so bizarre or fanciful to speculate that Roy MAY have been in control of his decisions? I think it's nothing more than hubris to claim we have this level of omniscience. After all, being depressed doesn't take away your right to sign contracts, vote etc, the way they would for a child or a much more severely impaired person. End of ramble.
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  6. +Michael Is it within reason to suggest Roy may have been in control of his decision making throughout the final texts?
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  7. +Michael If he was in full control, then it follows she didn't force him to kill himself, and it would simply be a legal suicide. You cannot both be in full control AND be forced to do something against your will. In any other legitimate manslaughter case, your death would be beyond your control. At least that's how I see it.
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  8. +Michael If she didn't force him against his will, then there's no manslaughter. To me that's a commonsense understanding of the term.
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  9. +MrShaiya96 Well I don't know if I'm the only one. But that said, thank you. . BTW, when I click on "view all 74 replies," yours disappears. Has this happened to you or others?
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  10. +Riley I agree with most of what you said. My concern here is reasonable doubt. It can't be stated with anything approaching certainty that every single depressed and suicidal person no longer has meaningful free will. That to me means we give that benefit of the doubt to the defendant. That she did a very evil thing isn't really the point. The point is, can manslaughter be proven beyond a reasonable doubt here? I'd say, no, there is reasonable doubt. But it's a difficult call, and a tricky case, at least to me.
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  11. +dr boom Let's keep the discussion civil. This case has two very interesting sides. Let's not go off into theatrical exaggerations about a legitimate controversy. It's not like I'm advocating mudering 3-year-olds in cold blood. Maybe you aren't skilled in the art of recognizing nuance and grayness in a complex world.
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  12. +Seth Jones Far from being trivial, I take the issues here very seriously. Both sides of the case have their merits, and also unpalatable implications. If I've not made that point clear, I'm doing so now. cheers
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  13. +Wam She only got 15 months because, contrary to what the gladiator Youtube crowd thinks, the punishment is commensurate with the crime.
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