Father of Larry Nassar victims attacks him in court: "Let me at that son of a bitch!"

A for effort, dude, but that’s not going to happen. Also, at least the guy is actually going away for a long, long time.

Side note - is it just me or does the judge look like Marina Sirtis?

The law isn’t yet adjudicated by inflexible computers but by humans, so extenuating circumstances, context and cost-benefit analyses come into play.

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Neither word is rigorously defined. Usage varies person to person. Language is fuzzy. Depending on who is speaking, there can be more or less overlap between the terms and difference between the concepts.

The upshot: “That’s not justice that’s retribution” may have sounded deep when you said it in your head, but I’d call it a deepity.

he’s given us all a satisfying preview of what remains of Nassar’s life

I’d be satisfied with removed from society. The fact that our prisons are dangerous places where people have to live in fear and are very often actually assaulted harms our society and us each individual and does not satisfy me.

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Apologies, that is exactly what I’m trying to say. I don’t believe this should be stricken from the record, but I do think that the father should be allowed his national privacy. Information can be public - and accessible if needed - without being pushed onto our screens. I’m not trying to shame anyone, but was just thinking about the role of media in changing peoples lives for reactions in short moments. This story will define this guy for anyone who searches his name for a long time, he’s going to be cheered and derided for his actions on a national stage. I’m wondering if the media should sometimes let things like this pass.

(Again, I don’t want it to be taken off the record, it should remain on the court record and be available to the public.)

edit: I also want to clarify that I’m not going after beschizza or boingboing either, the story is widely reported and once that occurs it makes sense to report and discuss it.

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I was replying to the “if I was a guard I’d let him in for a little visit” comment. What exactly would you call that then?

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The Civilized Owl: His anger is 100% justified.
The Cynical Owl: He is now 100% guaranteed for a writer/producer callback.

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I agree with you. I still suspect that child molesters would find themselves ill at ease in even the most progressive, Scandinavian-style prison. Either way I’m not going to worry too much about paedophile rapists once they’re permanently locked away.

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Really?
mitigating circumstances seem like they are only invoked when someone starts “putting themselves in the others shoes” and it has no place in this context. The man was there to make a victims statement and used that to make an attempt at physical violence.

I do think there’s something to be said for graphically showing the wide ripples of pain and trauma that someone like Nassar causes. Until recently that secondary but still powerful anguish and its aftereffects were hidden or dismissed in American society. Victim impact statements for the direct victims (a key factor in restorative justice) only became common in the U.S. starting in the 1980s, with statements like this father’s a later development.

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there’s a spectrum here

retribution over a personal beef <-----> this father’s pain boiling over

i’m 100% with him - would hope i had the balls to do the same

100% understand the takedown too - necessary and correct

dismissal and warning that no one else try it - sufficient

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Words can be violent, and violent outbursts can speak volumes.

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…You do realize that pretty much every dad in the country wants to buy this guy as many beers as he can possibly handle, myself included, right?

I’ve got two daughters, both in competitive gymnastic-type sports, so the Nassar case hit really close to home. I don’t really condone violence against prisoners, but I also understand the violation that the father must have felt when his trust in the team where his daughters were spending so much time was so horrendously broken.

So yeah. I don’t think he’s gonna really be regretting this hitting national TV. Except maybe the morning after he walks into any bar in the country.

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That video made me cry. I do not approve of what he was trying to do, but I can feel his anger and frustration, and even his blaming himself for not having been able to protect his daughters. He may have wanted to get punished in order to redeem himself. Terribly sad.

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You are much calmer and more understanding in your response to the above poster than I ever could have been. My reply would most definitely had said something like “you’re an effing idiot, DIAF.”

or ya know…something to that effect. :smirk:

In the past I might nerdily attempt to pigeonhole a particular scenario into very precisely defined categories as you are trying to make me do. Nowadays, I try to understand where other people are coming from instead of insisting they rigidly adhere to very narrow conceptions of the meanings of words.

Poster is probably saying that, based on the aggregate suffering caused by Nassar, a life-long jail sentence is what fails to qualify as “justice”. It seems likely that they have a different view of what the word “justice” means than you do, and quite possibly a different view of the harmfulness of Nassar’s actions. It seems to me like you’re insisting that the person in question is not entitled to have a different opinion from yours on this.

I mean, maybe you’re trying to convince them of your opinion, but if that was the case you’d probably try some rhetorical strategy that actually had a shot of working instead of going for the old argumentum ad dictionarium.

For myself, I don’t have a rigid concept of what the term “justice” means. Anger over Nassar’s crimes seems pretty justifiable to me, so I can understand where these sorts of statements coming from. And I can also see the wisdom in your points about the dangers of vigilante justice, whether or not they’re being expressed as well as they might be.

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You say this like you believe the whole thing was premeditated. Are you a sentient computer or something? Have you never experienced emotional pain manifesting as rage before? (I mean, for reals, I know it’s just that you’ve never experienced the equivalent so you’re overestimating your own tolerance of negative emotions and failing to put yourself in others’ shoes b/c you don’t have enough experience to understand the feels.)

The guy has likely been spending years helping his daughters work through mental and emotional issues caused by Nassar’s casual off-handed violation of the personal autonomy of them as well as over a hundred other human beings entrusted to his care.

It seems most likely to me that the guy:

  1. thought it was important to come to court to make the statement
  2. thought he could face the man who caused his family so much pain and maintain some degree of composure
  3. found himself overwhelmed by emotion when faced by the reality of facing Nassar
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I hope someone offers the father counseling/therapy instead of beers…

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Not strictly relevant, but I love that dad wore his IBEW sweatshirt to court.

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So many women damaged, so many angry parents…This father’s anguish got the better of him, and I’m sure he’s as heartbroken for his daughters as he is angry at the monster who hurt his children. His outburst is understandable, but inappropriate. I’m glad the judge was lienient with him.

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