Our particular subconversation was based on whether or not there was a valid reason to demean a human being.
Lets start with a definition. “Demean” means to debase, to lower in value. I took the original apparent meaning in this conversation to be equivalent to “ridicule, to treat as less than oneself”.
All of those examples that I listed are, as seen from their behavior, less than normal people. In some cases so far less as to be considered less than human.
No one said anything about screaming insults at anyone (except for yourself. Perhaps we were working from differing definitions of demean). But I see no reason not to call a hog a hog so to speak.
We lost a lot in this society when we became afraid to shame those who do shameful things.
If the punishment is meted out to each and every violator of a law (say publicly executing murderers as an example) then it is no longer unusual.
The cruelty of a punishment (I believe) should be based on the cruelty of the crime. I have a friend who believes certain offense should be punished by death by wiffle bat. That is the perp should be beaten to death slowly so that they experience all the pain and torment that their victim did. I can’t really say I disagree with him for some cases but I would have to back off a bit due to the psychological damage caused to the executioners.
In any event some perps should be demeaned as they have demonstrated themselves to be less than normal.
“The cruelty of a punishment (I believe) should be based on the cruelty of the crime.”
That is an interesting comment.
Here’s what others have written: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
This is Amendment VIII of the United States Constitution. There was a time when the Bill of Rights was valued by all sides of the political spectrum.