The Moralities Of Murder

I wanted to write a post about my opinions on the death penalty today, but I decided to trash the idea. I’m just finishing up the new Netflix show about the Menendez brothers as I’m writing this. I’m not really sure how to feel about the whole story. I’ve always thought that there were two inexcusable things in life. One is cheating on your partner, and the other is murder. I think both are choices you make to ruin another person’s life. I know murder is literally ending another person’s life, and there is a difference between that and cheating. I just include cheating because it ruins someone's reality and mental state. Watching this show brought up the idea that maybe some people got what they deserved. I don’t think my opinion has changed, but the idea definitely floated into my brain. Self-defense really makes everything a little blurry, and I get that. Obviously, there are cases where you need to go that far to save yourself. If you are in a situation where your life is at risk and you need to murder someone, that makes sense to me. That isn’t quite where the Menendez brothers are, though, on the murder spectrum. They lived through abuse their whole life, but at the time of the murders, they weren’t being abused. They premeditatedly murdered their parents. They planned it. I’m not sure if that is justifiable, even though they went through abuse for so long. I enjoyed watching this show and having the internal thoughts about what happened over thirty years ago. When the Jeffrey Dahmer iteration of this series came out, I felt the exact same way. I even incorporated it into my college admissions essay. These shows spotlight true monstrous crimes, but they make you feel sympathy for these people. If you’ve watched the Dahmer series or know anything at all about the case, you know how pure evil he is. He is a monster, but, god, did I feel so awful for him. Watching this Menendez brothers series made me feel just as sympathetic. I felt empathy for people who decided it was okay to take another person’s life. Dahmer is definitely different from the Menendez brothers’ situation for many reasons. I’m guessing that is the point of these two series—to show that these people are human too. That’s what I want people to get out of them at least. It is important that everyone understands they are human, just like you and I. I understand why they titled the first series “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” but I think using “Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story” is an unfair title. Dahmer was a monster, but were the Menendez boys? Their final sentencing says so, but I don’t know if that is enough for me. I recommend watching the shows. I almost started crying at the end when the brothers were separated. Let me know what you think if you’ve already watched the show too. I’m very interested in everyone’s opinion. I just don’t really know what to think. Was everything justified? Was it for money? I’m going to do a little more research, and these are my initial thoughts. Sorry for a gloomier blog post today. Hopefully, Wednesday’s will be bright, happy unicorns and rainbows. Happy Monday, everyone! It's almost October!