Lizzie Borden Society Forum

I have a nursing degree, but also a Master's Degree in Psychology. I have worked with all manner of mental illness. But in this thread, I want to explore the psychology of the members of this forum. I believe that People of a "conservative" nature, people who hold traditional values, vote conservative, perhaps have religious leanings, tend to see guilt, and set out to prove it, while people of a "liberal" nature tend to focus on the good in people, and set out trying to defend and prove innocence. I know this is an over generalization, and please disagree with me if you don't fit into that mold. I am a moderate conservative, vote Republican, go to church, and I tend to focus on the many guilty people who go free in our judicial system. I have several friends who are liberal, Democrats, and tend to focus on all of the innocent people who end up convicted wrongly. They would tend to see this case as justice prevailing, and Lizzie being innocent. I tend to see it as poor police work, and the jury not wanting to convict a woman even though she probably did it. Our upbringing and 'world view' does influence our thinking, so Thoughts? Have you taken into consideration your biases in looking at this case? Am I totally wrong?

PossumPie, can you convict a person if you think only that he/she probably did it? or must you be certain that he/ she did it?

I couldn't be any more liberal. Pro choice, anti death penalty, pro gun control, pro immigration, etc etc etc.

Of course this affects my opinions and how I look at this case. It took me years to come to the conclusion that Lizzie is probably guilty...

Franz, this isn't about conviction or not. This is about how we as humans come to conclusions. When I see a case in the News, O. J. Simpson, Jon Benet Ramsey, and I hear the 'evidence' against a suspect, I tend to lean towards their guilt. I tend to hear the Travon Martin case, and think some punk kid threatened a guy who defended himself. I think my more moderate conservative leanings say "more people get away with murder than are innocent people convicted wrongly" I tend to think whether or not you commit murder isn't as important as having a good lawyer in determining your chances of jail.
I am just trying to see if people who are liberal, who tend to believe humans are basically good will see Lizzie innocent more often than people who tend to see humans as basically choosing to do the wrong thing given the chance, people who are more conservative. Obviously the first respondent Aamartin contradicts my theory...LOL.

Okay, so double post here...how to I remove this one?

Super liberal here. Same as Aamarting: prochoice, pro gun control, anti death penalty, etc. And I think Lizzie is GUILTY. I actually think that liberals DON'T see the good in people, that is why they support governmental control...man cannot be trusted to govern himself, or he will end up being greedy, keeping all his profits to himself, and there will be a great disparity in incomes.

I think conservatives tend to have a rosier picture of mankind. They trust the free hand of the marketplace to govern us...they tell us the "trickle down" theory exists; that rich people will share their wealth and it will trickle down to the masses, the result being we all have jobs (this is load of bull, as evidenced by all the Republican corporatists that moved jobs overseas to exploit cheap labor.)

In U.S.A., besides Republicans and Democrats, there are as well...anarchists, I think.

NancyDrew wrote:Super liberal here. Same as Aamarting: prochoice, pro gun control, anti death penalty, etc. And I think Lizzie is GUILTY. I actually think that liberals DON'T see the good in people, that is why they support governmental control...man cannot be trusted to govern himself, or he will end up being greedy, keeping all his profits to himself, and there will be a great disparity in incomes.

I think conservatives tend to have a rosier picture of mankind. They trust the free hand of the marketplace to govern us...they tell us the "trickle down" theory exists; that rich people will share their wealth and it will trickle down to the masses, the result being we all have jobs (this is load of bull, as evidenced by all the Republican corporatists that moved jobs overseas to exploit cheap labor.)

Looks like no correlation at all! Well, a hypothesis dis-proven is just as important as one proven. I never thought of your take on liberal/conservative. I always thought that liberals think people will want to work hard to get off 'the system', and conservatives think people will be lazy if given a free ride. Liberals think the government is smart enough to control people's, health care, guns, etc and conservatives are scared as heck of the government controlling our lives... but your take makes sense. Thanks for the participation, though most people on this forum despite their ideology seem to think Lizzie was guilty.

Interesting take on the Zimmerman/Martin situation-- I think they should have thrown the book at him!

I agree with you there, Aamartin. Zimmerman was guilty!

PossumPie: If depends on whom you ask.

Liberals believe that there is inherent oppression and discrimination that exists in society and that requires an extra measure of help from the government in order to equalize the playing field. Affirmative Action and EEO are such examples. Liberals also believe that government exists to help the poor and disadvantaged through programs like SSDI, free school lunches, government sponsored daycare, welfarie-to-work programs, etc. The model that liberals believe in is experimentation. Lets come up with NEW ideas to help better mankind, and lets used taxpayer dollars to drive those new ideas...."shared responsibilty"..."I'm am my brother's keeper."

Conservatives don't believe in experimentation. They hold onto tradition, things that have always worked, the status quo. They detest taxes, because they want to keep all their wealth. It's more of an "every man for himself" type belief. They belief in the invisible hand of the free market as a correction device. If man strays too far afield, then the market will correct it.

In truth, neither system works well all on its own. That is the beauty of our country...2 parties, which keep each other in check. Franz, the anarchists you speak of are a small minority and represent those who would tear down all forms of government and law...its a scary thought. The Unibomber was an anarchist. I would not classify them as a political party, but rather an extremist fringe element.