As far as mandatory reporting [of murders confessed to you], do you people believe that if you see a friend of yours smoke pot; you’re required to report it? Why would murder be different?
–delmoi

It’s 3:50 am, and I have just been struck dumb by reading that statement at Metafilter. I’d respond there, but a) no one ever pays attention to anything I say and b) I do try to avoid getting caught up on Metatalk flame wars. It all started with an anonymous question posted to Ask Metafilter, and moved on to a rant-fest in MetaTalk. Both threads are tediously long and filled with much smug idiocy, so unless you enjoy that sort of thing or are trying to bore your brain into sleep, I personally wouldn’t suggest reading them in their entirety. I know I wish I hadn’t. The above quoted statement is just a prime example of what I mean, and I just had to make note of it and say something somewhere.

So let’s see … how exactly would having someone you know tell you they killed someone and buried them in a field be at all different from seeing a friend smoking pot? I’m just going to freaking guess and say it might have something to do with the fact that smoking pot is a low-level crime in most places and doesn’t involve dead bodies buried in field, and killing someone and burying them in a field is one of those crimes you can actually be forced to relinquish your life for because SOMEONE WHO WAS ALIVE IS NOW DEAD, AND YOU DID IT! Oh yeah, I see it’s JUST LIKE SMOKING POT!

Are we really to the point where people think it’s perfectly OK to kill someone if you can get away with it? That so long as you have a shitty life due to feeling bad about it, that’s all the punishment you deserve? Am I the only one who thinks that’s just freaking insane?!

I’m just going to tell you right now, if anyone ever confesses to me they killed someone and buried them in a field and hadn’t gotten caught, I will report it. I don’t care if you are my Best Friend Forever. I don’t take murder lightly, and no one else should either. So you have been warned. Don’t tell me about it when you kill someone unless you are ready to turn yourself in on the spot.