I am profoundly uncomfortable with the idea of capital punishment. I loathe the idea of it. Yet I understand the point of view of people who support it. Timothy McVeigh, John Wayne Gacy ... there are men (and women) capable of such evil that killing them seems the only solution.
Saddam Hussein clearly was evil. He had his own sons-in-law killed, for pete's sake. The husbands of his daughters. Yikes. He killed thousands of people -- ordered their executions, ruled over them using fear as their motivation to do as he wanted them to.
That said, I am still uncomfortable with the way he died ... and I am wondering why, when I feel so conflicted about this, do I have an overwhelming urge to seek out the video that shows it all?
What does that say about me? Or do I really want the answer to that question?
Mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend. Scrapbooker, family historian, reader, cook, photographer. Volunteer. Political junkie. Springsteen fan. Loves deeply, strives daily to be a cheerful, kind and generous person. Fails regularly. Snarky, judgy and more than a little blunt. Some people don't appreciate my style. If you're one of them, that's ok. Get your own blog.
I think we all have a certain degree of morbid curiousity. I don't like that there has to be a video about everything these days.
ReplyDeleteI feel the exact way you do. I watched the video. I needed to. I don't think anything is wrong with wanting or needing to watch the video of it. We aren't making other people watch it. It is our own decision.
ReplyDeleteI have contemplated watching. I have seen the images of the noose being put around his neck and I've read the blow-by-blow. I'm going to stop there, not because going further feels wrong but just because I don't want that image as part of the scrapbook in my mind. I involuntarily see enough disturbing images without deliberately adding more.
ReplyDeleteI oppose the death penalty if only because it gives me even a moment's sympathy for some people that don't really deserve it. Or even manages to inspire in me a begrudging admiration for the kind of self-control it requires to remain stoic in the face of a death that, to the person being killed, likely feels as unjust as it is certain.
I was actually shocked that they still hung people over there. Clearly yes he was a very evil man but I honestly thought it would have been a lethal injection. But my dh put it well...they still cut your hand off for stealing a loaf of bread over there.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Stacy--I am suprised that they do it, but I am glad it is done and over with. Remember this was their decision, not ours. It would have taken decades to get that done here.
ReplyDelete