WickhamAkimbo t1_j143yon wrote on December 21, 2022 at 3:08 PM

Reply to comment by BiblioPhil in New York City Unveils Gate of the Exonerated in Central Park Honoring Wrongly Convicted People by lifandigoosogn

That's a good counter-argument. I think for a lot of people the spree mugging is a big enough issue that they are going to have an issue memorializing them.

newestindustry t1_j1479ie wrote on December 21, 2022 at 3:30 PM

Spree mugging or not, those people would have an issue with this particular memorial no matter what, for reasons that are extremely obvious to everyone.

BiblioPhil t1_j14fq1n wrote on December 21, 2022 at 4:26 PM

I wonder what the overlap is between people who oppose this statue on those grounds and people who defend Columbus monuments or Trump votes. I'm guessing...very large.

drpvn t1_j14g2je wrote on December 21, 2022 at 4:28 PM

This is the flowchart I use to determine my position on every issue.

BiblioPhil t1_j14n731 wrote on December 21, 2022 at 5:14 PM

The point is that supporting both is contradictory, yet many people do it. Because their issue with commemorating the exonerated people isn't that they were flawed individuals. It's something else.

drpvn t1_j14p7zu wrote on December 21, 2022 at 5:27 PM

I’m not a mind reader. My issue with honoring these five guys in particular—and there’s a gigantic difference between, on the one hand, apologizing to them on behalf of the city and state, paying them compensation, and condemning the miscarriage of justice that happened, and, on the other hand, honoring them—is that all the information I have strongly suggests that these guys were absolute pieces of shit, at least as teenagers.

What Trump voters think about this just doesn’t enter into my mind at all. Not every issue needs to be a fight among two warring factions for control over an overarching narrative. But that’s just me.

If Mark Wahlberg were unjustly convicted of rape and then exonerated, I would still think he was a piece of shit.

Taking a step back, though, this debate shouldn’t really be about these guys in particular. The gate doesn’t honor them specifically. It’s about people who have been exonerated. But it’s hard to separate them from the larger issue given that they always show up as the poster boys.