Televised execution of criminals

[jakethebake]

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I'll state right now for example I fully support criminal punishment for strictly vindictive purposes.

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I agree. It can and should be done within the law. If the law won't take care of it, then I will. But I definitely think the law should provide for it.

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does closure need to mean vengeance? (serious question)

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For me I think it would. I don't feel that vengeance is a bad thing though in general.

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Exactly I'm always baffled why people try to make revenge out to be such a bad thing. IMO revenge is one of the things that makes society possible.

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that's interesting. How would you define revenge and how does it make society possible? I can't really think of examples so maybe I'm misunderstanding you...

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I think most people act in accordance to the golden rule and I think this desire to be treated kidnly has as much to do with how people behave towards one another than the fear of criminal punishment or even a desire to just be kind.

If you take away the stick ie revenge, you take away the carrot as well, thus leaving society with only the protections provided by law.

[imported_The Vibesman]

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Also, 9/11 is a bad example, but some of the criminals on TV are so far removed from most of our lives that they would just seem like movie characters to many viewers -- and not in a sociopathic way.

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This is not something to simply be stated as the way it is and left there. This is a serious problem with society in general. The inability to distinguish reality from make-believe is a problem. I understand that things are confused today. We watch TV news as entertainment, and it doesn't seem real. We watch reality TV which is about as real as Fantasia, but they call it "reality." People identify with their favorite TV characters as if they were friends. Society has come to accept this, and I can't do anything about it. Fine.

But, if we can't differentiate between a REAL PERSON dying and a character in a piece of fiction in any medium dying to the point where one will cause a different emotion than the other, we have serious problems.

I'm not a college boy, so someone can correct me if I'm wrong or using the term incorrectly, but I don't see how the perception of the death of a real person being the same as the perception of the death of a TV character as anything but sociopathic.

[sexdrugsmoney]

Do I watch it? Yes, purely for psychological and sociological reasons.

Do I think society should ever start televising executions? No. (especially given the example of a "terrorist" - why create and feed "bloodlust" I say?)

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I'll state right now for example I fully support criminal punishment for strictly vindictive purposes.

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I agree. It can and should be done within the law. If the law won't take care of it, then I will. But I definitely think the law should provide for it.

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Right again this goes into my revenge is necessary for society to function. People are going to seek revenge, period it is in our nature as much as love is. If the law does not provide a structured tool for society to accomplish this and does not satisfy this desire within reason, then people will start to seek revenge on their own resulting in anarchy. This is why the Death Penalty is important IMO. People need to be satisfied that some criminals atleast have the chance of being killed, otherwise they will start to do it themselves resulting in more deaths, more anguish, destroyed families, etc.

[dtbog]

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I don't see how the perception of the death of a real person being the same as the perception of the death of a TV character as anything but sociopathic.

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Unfortunately you disproved your own point -- a sociopath by definition is 'antisocial' and therefore in discord with his society.

I agree that it's awful, but it's the unfortunate norm these days... thereby being anything but sociopathic.

[imported_The Vibesman]

I'm torn on capital punishment. On the one hand I see no reason to allow certain criminals, undoubtedly guilty and completely unrehabilitative, to live. On the other hand, in the simplest terms possible, I don't want to give the state the right to murder me.

General I support the idea in principle but not in practice. In this country (USA) capital punishment is not meted out fairly to the deserving. If it were I'd consider it differently I suppose, but I don't see things getting better anytime soon.

[jakethebake]

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I'm torn on capital punishment. On the one hand I see no reason to allow certain criminals, undoubtedly guilty and completely unrehabilitative, to live. On the other hand, in the simplest terms possible, I don't want to give the state the right to murder me.

General I support the idea in principle but not in practice. In this country (USA) capital punishment is not meted out fairly to the deserving. If it were I'd consider it differently I suppose, but I don't see things getting better anytime soon.

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Then you fix the practice, the part being done wrong, not [censored] up the part that's already right.

[imported_The Vibesman]

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I don't see how the perception of the death of a real person being the same as the perception of the death of a TV character as anything but sociopathic.

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Unfortunately you disproved your own point -- a sociopath by definition is 'antisocial' and therefore in discord with his society.

I agree that it's awful, but it's the unfortunate norm these days... thereby being anything but sociopathic.

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You're saying that it's normal, that people feel that way? I thought it was a question before.

Do you really feel that the average person watching an execution of a real person would feel no more emotion than one watching the execution of a television character? Because I don't feel that way, and I don't think people generally feel that way. I don't think it's gotten that bad yet. Look at the Nick Berg thing, or any of the footage of 9/11 - most people were deeply disturbed by that, much more so than when someone shot JR or whatever.

Then again, maybe you're right, I'm naive and I need to get out more often (or not, actually.)

[imported_The Vibesman]

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I'm torn on capital punishment. On the one hand I see no reason to allow certain criminals, undoubtedly guilty and completely unrehabilitative, to live. On the other hand, in the simplest terms possible, I don't want to give the state the right to murder me.

General I support the idea in principle but not in practice. In this country (USA) capital punishment is not meted out fairly to the deserving. If it were I'd consider it differently I suppose, but I don't see things getting better anytime soon.

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Then you fix the practice, the part being done wrong, not [censored] up the part that's already right.

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That's exactly what I would like to see done. But I do think there's more being done wrong in this area than is being done right. But as I said, I see no reason to allow certain criminals, undoubtedly guilty and completely unrehabilitative, to live.