Death Note Paradox

[Neo]

I want to see people's thoughts on this. If you Watched the series DeathNote or know what happened, please post your opinion on my next question. Long Story short:

How would you feel if the basic events in DeathNote actually occured?

No, I don't mean all the same characters, and plot, and whatnot. What i mean is Killing off criminals to establish the justice.

[Catas]

[SCPX]

I certainly wouldn't think of it as "divine justice". I'm a firm believer in fair trials, though.
Besides, no one person should wield that much power. Unless it's me, of course.

[chapel]

You have to admit. Light started out getting rid of criminals that deserved what happened to them. However once L came in and tried to catch him he felt cornered. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and a cornered jackal is more dangerous than a free-roaming one.

I would basically blame L for driving Light mad and causing him to go off the deep end. No human life is worth taking and if you take a life, you forfeit your own. I say that as long as Light continued to kill criminals and only criminals, which would have happened had L not appeared, I say I side with him.

[SCPX]

I do agree that he started out killing out the deserving ones, but I disagree about L being the reason he changed his targets. Eventually, if he was to truly create the perfect world, he would have started killing any criminals that he considered evil, even if their crimes weren't deserving the death sentence. As you said, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
L did speed up the process, of course.

[Neo]

I like the way you put the. It is very true that L speeded up the process of him abusing the power, and as long as nobody woud have apposed him, light would not have gone crazy. Of course though, it would not become a perfect society because Kira had 2 big weaknesses.

1. Lack-O-Info. Kira could not kill anyone that he did not know the name or the face of. Like L, all one had to do was hide their name and their face and they would be immune to Kira. Sure, because of the current baseof the internet, people have their names and faces all over the fucking place, BUT after a while the world would learn and soon nobody would learn anyones names and everyone would be hiding their faces.

2. Kira was still human. Because kira was human, he would die eventually, and when that happened he would have to choose an heir. Unfortunately, Kira isnt something you can just apply for.

[chapel]

While the thought process behind them are true, you still have to factor in the events of the story.

1. Yes light needed to see the faces and know the names of his victims his father was, if i remember correctly, either a chief inspector or very high up in the japanese police force. He had access to a relatively large amount of information because he could hack his fathers files. This also brings up the point that Light, I think, had also decided to follow in his fathers footsteps and become an officer himself. Had Light eventually joined the ICPO or any other world wide organization he would be almost limitless in his abilities to find criminal information.

2. Yes Light is mortal and would eventually die but at the same time he was building a fan base and Misa Misa (/shudder) would still pick up the second death note. Now, without L Remu would not have killed himself/herself (cant remember) and Misa would still have had her death note. Now being totally in love with Light she would do anything he would say. Yes she did have her life cut in half but she is still slightly younger than Light. Not also to mention they could have had kids in the future and raised them specifically to believe Lights "Justice" and followed the path. Either that or Light could have gotten someone eventually to take the job over for him.

[SCPX]

Unfortunately, Kira isnt something you can just apply for.

That would have been hilarious to see though. That, or a democratic process.
"Vote for me, or I shall write your name in the death note!"
"I am G-d! Vote for me, and fear my name writing power!"

Political debates would take on a whole new meaning.

@chapel: you may want to re-check the series. If I recall properly, Light planned on killing Remu anyway, because she was too moralistic. He foresaw a threat in her, and decided to use her to kill L, and convince her to kill herself, getting two birds with one stone.
Of course, it's been long enough since I've seen it, I could be wrong, but I do seem to remember Remu and him being semi-hostile towards one another.

Besides, would you really trust the children of Misa and Light to wield the death note? "I am Justice-Justice!" doesn't work too well...

[Neo]

My point numero Uno was not saying he couldnt find current registered criminals names, but he couldn't find future unregistered and hidden criminals> Mello for example his himself for the longest time, and he probably would have never gotten caught if he wouldnt have decided to go after kira/the deathnote. criminals would have learned to not show their faces/names.

[chapel]

First, SCPX, that's if Misa Misa and Light had children. I'm partly sure that with age Misa Misa would have matured as most people do and if Light told her to act mature she probably would faster.

Second, Neo, If Light continued to kill criminals that he could find, how exactly would you know how he is killing them. If L hadn't been factored in he never would have figured out that he would need to see/know his intended target. I'm very sure the average criminal would not know that Light would need to see their face. Plus, if we take this a step into the American system, If people rob stores/banks/ etc the media puts photo's of the criminals and possible accomplices on the nightly news once found/captured/etc. There would be no shortage of faces or names as long as society stays the same it is or information about how the death note works leaks out.