I've been to other parts of the country, and the rest are the same or worse. There's no point risking spending the rest of my life on the street only for those streets to be more hostile than the one I already live on.

That is what the evidence shows, and I don't consider obeying evidence a choice. If you can choose to ignore evidence, it shows your lack of character.

If I do not punish them, they will act worse anyway. Rewarding their bad behavior only encourages worse behavior. There is no way to create good behavior without the stick of punishment.

Furthermore, the duty to punish bad behavior lies above all things - including my own continued existence. If I were to encourage bad behavior by eschewing my duty, I would not deserve to live myself, and would be honor-bound to commit suicide. The fact that you people choose to punish me for doing the right thing simply because you "don't like" it makes you all the morally bankrupt people. Humanity is spoiled by the lack of punishment they receive and that is why they cannot be trusted to act in a non-toxic manner - they have "learned", through this lack of punishment, that there is no consequence to their actions no matter what they do - and then they make me bear those consequences by force.

Human beings know right from wrong only from punishment. An unpunished person is an untrustworthy person. Every person who has abused someone on this board did so because they were not adequately punished. The proper execution of punishment would prevent a great many traumas.