Job Discussion Forums

[scot47]

............work in a countrywhere they have public executions ?" Such was the question posed to me by a well-meaning matron in a bar in Kelvinside. I was taken aback. Never occurred to me.

Afterwards I realised I should have asked her," Have you ever bought anything made in the People's Republic of C hina ?"

How would YOU answer the well-meaning liberal lady of Kelvinside ?

[ellethom]

Let us not forget America, most notably Texas, where, instead of an electric chair, they have the electric bench....


All kidding aside, that is not a hard question, we all live/work in places with questionable systems in place. It's hard for many to understand the difference between public executions and say institutionalized racism....

Are we (I am referring to Americans, but you can cut/copy/paste your motherland here) any better in our system of government where there is such a disparage between the haves and the have nots? Are there such injustices in our criminal justice system that allow for 1 in 4 African American men to be in its system?

Guess i would point out the old adage about living in glass houses and avoiding flying granite.

[It's Scary!]

[ellethom]

Funny how those that usually give flippant answers are not so secure with reading them.

As noted in the rest of my post, the seriousness did follow, or was the offense over the reference to Texas?

We can hurl insults at others and criticize other countries, let us not forget that no one is perfect.

[johnslat]

Dear scot47,

"How would YOU answer the well-meaning liberal lady of Kelvinside"?

It's their ballpark. When you're there, you play by their rules. If anything about the country offends your sensibilities, DON'T GO.

Public executions are not my cup of tea (although I did witness one in Jeddah in the early 80s - only by happenstance, though). But how any other country deals with its law-breakers is my business only in the sense that I'd darn well better know what's allowed and what's not (and what the penalties are) before I go. As a "guest worker" in a foreign land, I don't have the right to try to change the way they do things there (although there's nothing that says I have to like it). And while I'm there, I'll keep any criticisms to myself.

That's what I'd expect from any guest in my country.

Regards,
John

[It's Scary!]

[ellethom]

hey man, note the parenthetical in that one! Can't get me on that!

Seriously... i wallow in my imperfections, if we all stopped taking ourselves so damn seriously maybe we would not have to spend so much time defending others' actions

[johnslat]

Dear ellethom

"if we all stopped taking ourselves so damn seriously maybe we would not have to spend so much time defending others' actions."

Are you serious?

Regards,
John

[posh]

Chopping thieves' hands off is an enlightened idea. More countries should follow the Saudi lead.

[lynnknows]

I would find it easy to answer. I would ask how can a person live in a country with so many homless, people without medical care, where people die from an infected tooth beasue they have no insurance. I would ask why is it ok to live in a country that does not take care of the people that faught and served for their country.PLEASE before anyoen jumps down on me about taking care of healthy able body people. I am not talking about giving people welfare or anything. We all see that is a service that needs to be revamped and or done away with. I am just talking about helping those people that really need a HELPING hand. I am talking about not just letting people die becasue they have an illness but no insurance.

I myself find these things worse than having people pay for a crime the commit. I think If the US would hang a person for selling drugs, there would be less drug dealers. If they choped off a hand for stealing MAYBE someone would think twice about it. If people that didnt take care of their kids got 50 lashes maybe people would pay child support. What we have now is a revolving door system. I dont know many people that get reformed in jail. They usually learn how to become better criminals.

Im am for sure not saying Saudis system is the way to go. I think its has a few too many HUGE holes in it. I am just saying we cant judge or talk about others broken systems when ours is just as broken

[johnslat]

Matthew 7:5

"Hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to remove the splinter from your brother's eye."

Although, in this case, I'd say it's beams in both .

Regards,
John

[It's Scary!]

[billings]

Actually sticking to the subject of public executions - I think they are great!
1) it is a deterrent
2) you can (choose if you wish to go) see that justice is done
3) considerably less cruel than leaving people in prison 'for life'
4) unfortuanately, we do need to consider cost - and when the prison population is overcrowded, why keep people in prison - where they may/do continue to kill?
5) families of all concerned can get on with their lives
6) it isn't too long ago that European countries also had public executions
7) Crime is minimal in Saudi Arabia!!!
Yes, they have their faults - and mistakes may be/are made but...... public executions have their place!
Let's bring them back to our countries!

[Bebsi]

Er, no, chopping people's heads off in public is not quite as rosy as some might paint it.

The US is the only country in the developed world that retains the death penalty - and look at its crime rates, especially in the states where it still operates! All other first-world countries, namely Canada, everywhere in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan have abolished capital punishment.

Some countries that still carry out executions, such as Saudi Arabia, may be rich, but they are certainly not first world, especially in the sense of being democratic or pluralist.

KSA's crime rates are considerably higher than they used to be. They are relatively low by US and UK standards, but not necessarily that low by most continental European standards. Low crime rates in many Islamic countries have been the result of factors that have nothing to do with the death penalty or a severe penal code.

I'm not in favour of long prison sentences either, except in certain extreme cases such as those of serial killers.

Also, someone who is wrongfully accused of a serious crime has some chance of getting out of jail. Cancelling a death penalty that has already been carried out is a tad more problematic. A case in point is the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four cases in UK. Had the death penalty still existed in Britain in the 1970s, ten innocent people would have died.

History has shown that the death penalty is consistently abused by oppressive regimes. Handy way, you know, of getting rid of people who are into pesky notions such as democracy, or might be of a deviant sexual orientation. Most executions in Iran are for homosexuality, adultery and other sexual transgressions. Possibly political dissidence, too!

Their business, of course, but that doesn't mean it should be emulated by the west. Yes, the west has its faults too, but at least the spectacle of a crowd cheering in a town square while being sprayed with the blood of someone being decapitated is no longer one of them. Public executions, at least, pretty much died with Robespierre two centuries ago.

[plumpy nut]