H. Poteat

As someone who knows that America lacks justice, and that he is partly responsible, I find this incredibly disturbing to read.

I, personally, would much rather America be a civilized country than it lack justice. Roberts would clearly prefer anarchy.

This speech, though, is interesting in that it explains his extreme Right wing views. Roberts thinks by criminalizing being human he helps.

I think that's a stretch. I read it as the fact that he knows there is injustice, so he hopes that they experience it so that they can learn

Agreed. No matter what the political atmosphere or government is like, people will face hardships. Learning from them is what life is about

You shouldn't want people to be victims of injustice if you are a judge for a living. How do people not get this?

But he's not saying, "I hope, if you're black, people are racist towards you" or anything of that manner. He's speaking to a group..

I find this interesting as a parent. We often make the mistake of trying to protect our kids from everything bad.

Yeah, that resonated: there's value in all the setbacks, failures, and injustices.

They build personality.

Terrorism does not build personality. Justice does. You people are psychopaths.

Knowing the world *isn't fair* builds character. It builds empathy. It makes us less likely to hurt others over lofty ideals.

"It makes us less likely to hurt others over lofty ideals." Oh, how wrong you are. Victims become perpetrators.

This is a valuable point. Matter of degree, I think. But why did you call us psychopaths? Pretty extreme conclusion given the facts, no?

Psychopath = a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. Argument based on delusion & violence

In a way, it's very typically conservative. it assumes that empathy for others is impossible without firsthand experience.

Honestly, there's a subtle difference there. RFK: Pain can bring wisdom. JR: Without pain you can not be wise. 1st can be true w/o the 2nd.

A tortured, pedantic reading that is far less open-hearted than the obvious intent of the speaker and the original tweeter.

Only a conservative would wish pain and suffering on a middle-school kid because "it's good for them"

Anyone with empathy would exhort them to observe the surplus of suffering already in the world and use their imagination to relate.

Jesus was never sick or blind - how little he must've related to those poor people who came before him. -- Conservative Christian Thinking