Josh Reddick advocates torturing Boston Marathon bombing suspects, then apologizes

With a great beard also comes great responsibility — and that's probably why Josh Reddick quickly re-thought what he tweeted Friday afternoon.

The Oakland Athletics outfielder advocated torturing the suspected Boston Marathon bombers. Within five minutes he had deleted the tweet, admitted it was "a little harsh" and apologized if he offended anybody. It's worth noting that Reddick is a former member of the Boston Red Sox.

Here's the original tweet:

Here's follow-up:

At least he felt obligated to go beyond Twitter's 140-character limit in explaining himself.

The response to Reddick was about what you'd expect from Twittersville, or heck, America in general — a split of people who believe in an "eye for an eye" justice and people who think our nation should be better than that. It's an argument we've had in this country, and it's an argument that we're positive will continue in the comments of this post, so we're just going to write a little bit more, then leave you to it, OK?

This whole thing would have gone better if Reddick, a noted pro wrestling fan, had suggested that he personally give the bombing suspects the "Torture Rack," as in the finishing move of Lex Luger.

Still, Reddick — regardless of whether you agree with him — deserves credit for being passionate about our country, and for quickly realizing he probably should have expressed himself in a different way.

It also goes to show that, in a week like this one, anybody's emotions can get overwhelmed.

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