>These people are being assholes because they ARE assholes.
Never attribute to rational decision making what can be attributed to rotten character.
This kind of thinking is even worse than what they did, because it crystalizes them into some of their decisions and deprives them of being human.
While their acts are bullying, harassment, etc., this characterization is not that different to labelling a race inferior (or attributing some other characteristic as an unshakeable part of it). Only instead of a race it does that to a person (or a number of persons) based on past behavior.
People change, people can behave like assholes in one instance and be sweet and caring in another, and tons of other distinctions.
In the end, this type of thinking is what condemns those convicted in the US to inhuman treatment -- the belief that they are incorrigible because of something they did, and as thus deserve only hell.
This kind of thinking is even worse than what they did, because it crystalizes them into some of their decisions and deprives them of being human.
While their acts are bullying, harassment, etc., this characterization is not that different to labelling a race inferior (or attributing some other characteristic as an unshakeable part of it). Only instead of a race it does that to a person (or a number of persons) based on past behavior.
People change, people can behave like assholes in one instance and be sweet and caring in another, and tons of other distinctions.
In the end, this type of thinking is what condemns those convicted in the US to inhuman treatment -- the belief that they are incorrigible because of something they did, and as thus deserve only hell.