“This was not reckless driving. This was murder,” the judge said before she read out Mackenzie Shirilla’s verdict Monday afternoon.
Again it’s tragic for the victims, not for her. Saying it’s tragic all the way down, is a false equivalence.
I don’t want to be argumentative, but there is no false equivalence in my position. I never tried to apply any equivalence. Things can be tragic without being equivalently tragic, and one thing being tragic does not take away the tragedy of something else.
I think one could argue that you’re falling prey to the fallacy of relative privation. “X is worse than Y, so we shouldn’t care about Y.”
Tragedy is not a zero sum game. It is absolutely tragic that those young men were murdered. It is tragic that their families lost their loved ones. It is also tragic that this young woman thought the proper solution to her problems was to attempt murder-suicide. It is tragic that she threw away any promise her own life held along with theirs. It is perhaps not tragic, but certainly sad and troubling, that her family seems to think she did nothing wrong.
Yes, it’s more tragic for the victims, but it her story is still a tragedy.
It is important to note that I am in no way trying to excuse her actions or argue for leniency. She murdered two people in a horrible and reckless action. There are consequences for that action beyond the direct ones.
But empathy is important even for those we may hate.
Just wanted to say that I love this comment, and it’s a shame that so few people share this sentiment. Thank you for this.
I was actually just having an argument with my brother about this less than a month ago. Not this exact story, but a similar one where I was sad for everyone involved. He also fell into the “x is worse than y, so we shouldn’t care about y” mindset.
I didn’t realize there was a name for that, so thank you for that too!
