To be fair-- another quote from the same CBS message board comments on B&C. The battle lines drawn re: B&C are always remarkable. Thus this quote.
"Do you guys even hear yourselves? Your minds might be a nice place to visit but I should would hate to live there. They were criminal punks and they got what they deserved. Its just too bad it did not happen sooner."
"Do you guys even hear yourselves? Your minds might be a nice place to visit but I should would hate to live there. They were criminal punks and they got what they deserved. Its just too bad it did not happen sooner."
people who don't know what they are talking about should not give opinions!
ReplyDeleteAlthough this sentiment is rather crudely stated-- I would respectfully disagree with your assessment of it. This hard line tact, is a commonly held belief, expressed by many interested in B&C-- as well as by B&C aficionados who take the lawman's line.
ReplyDeleteTo me, those interested in B&C fall into 3 main groups. First, there are the B&C supporters or as sometimes expressed, the B&C hero worshipers group. This group of fervent B&C opinion providers, support the outlaws pretty much without question-- and believe B&C were not fully culpable for their actions.
Then, there are those B&C interested parties-- who support the law, and their tracking & killing of B&C as being justified-- regardless of the methods used. To them, the ambush and barrage of hot lead-- was just what B&C deserved, and not a minute too soon.
Then there's a 3rd group of which I include myself, who take perhaps a more balanced “centrist” view of B&C history-- which falls in between the other 2 hard line approaches. Within this opinion, there are some justifications realized re: the depression age and the tenor of the times. Although these tough years were marked by a decrease in the overall crime rate-- they were also marred by a notable increase, in murder and violent crime during this same period. However, this sympathy is tempered with the stark reality-- that anarchy could not be allowed to prevail-- and thus outlaws such as B&C needed to be stopped. The methods used to stop them, of course is a debate unto itself.
It needs to be understood, that laws and sociologically accepted norms that existed 75 years ago, when compared to those of today-- were dramatically different. More on this another time.