Shouldn't this be in the Death Note forums?
Anyway...the whole point is, the right to kill someone isn't something that should be so easily obtained and flaunted with like you were doing it in a video game or watching a movie. Toying with life defiles the right for people to be able to live in a world/society with some form of conscience and law. Killing someone to achieve a supposed just end for a free world will not lead to such a world. And there are several reasons for that:
1. Using violence/hate to achieve such an end will only inflame victims/relatives of victims in the long run. Half the world is under such circumstances thanks to war, terrorism, etc. Hate begets hate. Reading about Montana senator Frankie Wilmer's experiences in the Yugoslavia war and the 9/11 aftermath, led her to this comment the day after:
Quote:
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Only by the rule of law, only through a just response which punishes the individuals responsible, can we preserve what cannot be destroyed through violence, our commitment to democracy.
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This is something that the modern world forgets too much. The reaction to a crisis is increasingly becoming to eliminate the enemy. That doesn't always work. To think that one part of the world is righteous and the rest isn't is arrogant, narrow-minded and assumes that there can be one person or one country to decide what is best for all. Not possible.
2. One person doesn't know what is best for all. The concept that Light or someone else in the world knows best for all 7 million plus people on the planet is absurd. Cultural, language, nature and nurture experience shape and define us very differently. Diversity is essential within society or things stagnate rather quickly. There is more than one valid opinion at times. The idea that one person is wise or justified enough to judge all people is utterly perverse and impossible. That is effectively the essence of tyranny right there.
3. People will NEVER 100% agree on anything. From the variance of life experiences, backgrounds and the like, people are very different within a collective. The idea of one opinion being applicable to all or one way of life being THE way is pure fantasy/delusional. The right to decide and to have an opinion within the laws and moral principles is one of the fundamental rights of a human being. Again, to take that away is tyrannical.
4. Fear doesn't effect a good solution in the long run. Fear leads to resentment, to hate, to a violent end in some casesm, or leading to someone else thinking they can do a better job than the person in charge and eliminate them (which is what happened within Light's followers in the final third). Using fear to rule will lead to those under the cloak of the tyrant to flaunt their position and live in immoral, unjust ways, which is what happened in the long run. Fear doesn't make peopel respect someone. It makes them wary and want them to fall. That's not an effective way to rule/serve justice. It's a pathetic, childish way.
5. Death should not be taken so lightly. Life may be all we have. There are no guarantess in life except that we were born and that one day we will die (and be taxed during it). Sure, they may be no afterlife or justice for what one does in life. But that doesn't mean one should simply do whatever they want. It may not have consequences when one is dead but it does for society/other people. If we lived in a world where the concept of consequence didn't exist, law and stability would be defunct and anarchy would prevail (which again, did prevail to an extent in the latter part of Death Note). One has the right to live. One should be held accountable for crimes. But there is no one set form of punishment/judgement for all. There is no one truly impartial person in this universe. There is no one way of life that everyone on this planet should follow. Circumstances, cultural influences and the like will play a major part in them. They may not be just in all cases. They certainly aren't and never will be. But to simply abandon the concept and principles of law and justice and cave into simple, child-like ways of thinking will only lead to ruin for society as a whole. There needs to be a system to hold society and its members accountable, but society has to be able to hold the system accountable as well.
In all, Death Note did traverse interesting territory in terms of morality. But in the end, the concept that killing to achieve a good end is impossible. Commiting injustice to invoke justice would defile the point of justice.