But nabbing the guy who made the transmissions is not the same as proving the elements of the offences charged.
I agree wholeheartedly.
Look, I've never said, "Lock him away and throw away the key." In fact, I haven't commented at all on appropriate penalty - I'll go further by saying, that, in my mind, in the whole scheme of things, the offence is not
that big a deal - along a
similar vein to Lead Balloon's discussion re: "endangerment of life". I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm drawing the connection inappropriately. Regardless, I'm certainly not "clamoring for his scalp." as others are.
But, my point is regarding the automatic inference that depression or autism is an excuse for such behaviour. Why
are there reports surrounding his medical condition, if not to suggest an "excuse"?
If it transpires that the autism is medically found (legitimately) to be a contributing factor to the behaviour, well, then there is of course a valid excuse. My very basic reading into this (just this afternoon)
suggests that moral reasoning is
usually strong and prevalent amongst the majority of those on the spectrum.
I'm not being PC here - depression is a very real and terrible condition that afflicts many people in a terrible way. However, it forms no level of excuse in this case - that's simply my opinion.
I'm probably assisting in dragging this thread away from the real topic, for which I apologise. For me, this is a case of differing opinions and not one of anyone "not getting the point."
My poor decision to add the comment regarding "PC ****e" has not done anything to support my opinion - it was not well thought out in this case (there
IS too much PC ****e in this world!) but I'll leave it there so the subsequent responses to what I wrote make more sense.