stuka wrote:All of the silly monkey-chatter aside, let's take a look at just who and what this "Dog" fellow is:
Duane Chapman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Duane Lee "Dog" Chapman
Born February 2, 1953 (1953-02-02) (age 55)
Denver, Colorado
Occupation Bounty hunter, television personality
Spouse(s) La Fonda Sue Honeycutt (1972-1977)
Anne M. Tegnell (1979-?)
Lyssa Rae Brittian (1982-1991)
Tawny Marie ?-1994
Beth Smith 2006-present
Children 11, including Duane Lee Chapman, II and Leland Chapman
Website
Official Website
Duane Lee "Dog" Chapman (born February 2, 1953 in Denver, Colorado [1]) is an American bounty hunter and bail bondsman who lives in Honolulu, Hawaii. He stars in Dog the Bounty Hunter, a weekly reality television program which is broadcast on the A&E Network (USA), Virgin 1 (both UK), Bravo, and FOX8/Nine Network (Australia) .
Chapman, a former gang member with 18 prior convictions for armed robbery,[2] was sentenced in Pampa, Texas to a five year prison term in 1977 after being convicted of the first degree murder of Jerry Oliver. Chapman maintains his innocence of murder but suggests he was a legal accessory for not reporting the shooting to the police. He was released on probation after 1 and a half years.[3]
Dog's career in bounty hunting began when he was in court disputing child support. When he told the judge he did not have the money to pay, the judge offered him a deal to bring in a fugitive in exchange for the judge to pay part of Chapman's child support [4] for Duane Lee and Leland Chapman.
Dear Stuka,
if I would play chess, I would say the judge made an excellent move.
He helped to reintegrate Dog Chapman into society, and instead of repeating criminal offences to secure his livelihood, he now has a legal activity, which was recently rewarded.
If that isn't rehabilitation as suggested by Dhammakid, I don't know what is.
Instead of breaking the laws as before, he now reinforces them.
This is positive, isn't it? (Unless you want to argue that our laws are crap....)
What strikes me from the Buddhist and Theravada perspective is, that somebody (was) stopped (on) the downward course, as described it the Dhammapada.
When you now argue that he was convicted of murder, the case was apparently so weak they released him after 18 months on probation, so why is that, in the harsh US system?
Then you could also think of also think of Angulimala, who murdered 999, and then became a monk, and an Arahant.
Here is what happened after the racial slur he was accused of:
On December 21, 2007, Roy Innis, the chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, one of the first to call the A&E network to have the show taken off the air, met with Alecia Colon of The New York Sun and Chapman. Innis stated for the daily newspaper, "After meeting with him and his wife, Beth, and hearing his side of the story, we realized that the controversy had unjustly spiraled out of control without context." [33]
He went on to say, "Duane has taken ownership of the damage of his words and has taken on the responsibility of being a racial healer for our country… I have been with this man several times and had extensive dialogues with him. (Innis' son) and I consider him and his wife good friends. Duane is a changed man and has a higher purpose. Popular television is a wasteland of meaningless titillation and degradation. The Dog's potential to take his celebrity and turn it into something redeeming for our culture and society is immense. It is for these reasons that we want his television show back on the air."
Namaste,
Annabel.