Saddam Hussein Execution Video

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...34279766935521

I had some reservations about posting the link here, so if anyone finds it inappropriate please feel free to delete the thread.

This was so 2006 :dramaquee

Disgusting really. I derive no pleasure from such things.

Yeah, even if he was the one person on earth most deserving of a hanging (and he was), doesn't make me want to watch him die any more. Nothing against you for posting the link, though. I actually wondered why somebody hadn't done it before.

Eh...sick as the video is, and as much as I don't want to see somebody die, I think that it should have been broadcast on cable television. This is because people support an execution, but often as an abstraction, as an idea. They love the thought of somebody getting what they deserve, but if they haven't seen it happen, it is easy to write it off as a quick, reasonable end for a perverse mad man.

We should have all executions shown on television to give people a sense of responsibility and understanding behind what they have supported or promoted. If we are going to kill people, at least make people understand what that means.

If it is too horrible to watch, it is too horrible to do.

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Originally Posted by turambar85

Eh...sick as the video is, and as much as I don't want to see somebody die, I think that it should have been broadcast on cable television. This is because people support an execution, but often as an abstraction, as an idea. They love the thought of somebody getting what they deserve, but if they haven't seen it happen, it is easy to write it off as a quick, reasonable end for a perverse mad man.

We should have all executions shown on television to give people a sense of responsibility and understanding behind what they have supported or promoted. If we are going to kill people, at least make people understand what that means.

If it is too horrible to watch, it is too horrible to do.

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I agree with your sentiments, but I'm not sure if showing executions on TV would have the effect you're describing.

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Originally Posted by Slomo

I agree with your sentiments, but I'm not sure if showing executions on TV would have the effect you're describing.

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Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't. But it is not so much for the purpose of eliminating executions through a greater understanding and exposure, but simply putting it out there where people all but have to see it, so that they will have some measure of accountability, so that they can no longer pretend it happens differently that it actually does.

^^Then we should show all the mangled bodies in a car accident and that would
surely stop car accidents, right?

He got what he deserved and I found nothing disgusting in the execution. He
dropped thru a trap door and was dead.

I guess you'd have to show that public hangings in the old days had an adverse effect on the public's view of capital punishment. My guess is it didn't.

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Originally Posted by xrayzebra

^^Then we should show all the mangled bodies in a car accident and that would
surely stop car accidents, right?

He got what he deserved and I found nothing disgusting in the execution. He
dropped thru a trap door and was dead.

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While what you said had no correlation to the matter at hand, and was completely absurd and pointless, I will address it anyway for shits and giggles.

Car accidents are not things which are voted on, and happen by law and purported actions. They are...here we go....ACCIDENTS.

Saddam's execution was no accident, it was supposed to happen, or at least I hope nobody is stupid enough to have thought putting the rope around his neck would have some positive outcome for his physical and mental health and stability.

My views on the death penalty are not relevant in this situation, I just believe that we should witness what we dictate. If we decide that somebody is worthy of death, and never see what the death of a human being by hanging, the electric chair, or lethal injection looks like, then we lose all personal responsibility for our actions.

Does anybody believe that televising aspects of the Iraq war has been bad? Whether you are a peace activist, a specific war-hater, or a war-hawk, it does not matter, we all need to see what we promote, or what we allow.

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Originally Posted by turambar85

Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't. But it is not so much for the purpose of eliminating executions through a greater understanding and exposure, but simply putting it out there where people all but have to see it, so that they will have some measure of accountability, so that they can no longer pretend it happens differently that it actually does.

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I agree, sort of. I'm all for capital punishment, but death by hanging is a little out dated I think, even for Saddam. The way we do it here in the good old United States is just fine by me. I'd have no problems seeing someone put to sleep and then given a shot that stops their heart AFTER they are already asleep.

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Originally Posted by Spurminator

I guess you'd have to show that public hangings in the old days had an adverse effect on the public's view of capital punishment. My guess is it didn't.

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It is a different society, a different era. People in those days were ignorant, uneducated, and unhappy. They had no problems seeing complete strangers suffer and die, it was part of their daily life....they thought it had to happen, and there was nothing wrong with it.

And don't try to argue that we are the same people...when even the sick perverts in spurstalk weren't excited about seeing a mass murderer hung on grainy, fuzzy cell-phone footage. It is a different age, and we would respond to it differently.

Hell, even if we didn't all respond differently, it is not relevant. We just need to be shown what we are doing, it is never good to be blind of your actions and their consequences.

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Originally Posted by johnsmith

I agree, sort of. I'm all for capital punishment, but death by hanging is a little out dated I think, even for Saddam. The way we do it here in the good old United States is just fine by me. I'd have no problems seeing someone put to sleep and then given a shot that stops their heart AFTER they are already asleep.

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Well, not that it is entirely relevant to the debate, but I personally do not care if the form of execution is humane or not...I do not support its use.

Its funny, 2 years ago, I was a staunch supporter of the death penalty, wrote a paper in support of its use, and halfway through the essay I had turned myself, inadvertantly, against the death penalty.

I don't see any reasons for the death penalty to be used, at all. There are, depending on who you are, religious, moral, ethical, logical, etc. reasons why it is a mistake, and a mark of a lack of societal progress..

But, another day, another thread.

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People in those days were ignorant, uneducated, and unhappy. They had no problems seeing complete strangers suffer and die, it was part of their daily life....they thought it had to happen, and there was nothing wrong with it.

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And in your scenario, where people watch executions with regularity, this would be no different.

I don't think we are all that much different at our core. I think a good portion of society is more enlightened, but there's nothing saying that enlightenment can't be reversed.

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Originally Posted by Spurminator

And in your scenario, where people watch executions with regularity, this would be no different.

I don't think we are all that much different at our core. I think a good portion of society is more enlightened, but there's nothing saying that enlightenment can't be reversed.

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The liberalization of society has changed that...with human rights groups, 24 hour news broadcasts, video, better coroner examinations, etc...things are made more personal, and attacked more vehemently.

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Originally Posted by turambar85

Well, not that it is entirely relevant to the debate, but I personally do not care if the form of execution is humane or not...I do not support its use.

Its funny, 2 years ago, I was a staunch supporter of the death penalty, wrote a paper in support of its use, and halfway through the essay I had turned myself, inadvertantly, against the death penalty.

I don't see any reasons for the death penalty to be used, at all. There are, depending on who you are, religious, moral, ethical, logical, etc. reasons why it is a mistake, and a mark of a lack of societal progress..

But, another day, another thread.

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Nah, not another day or another thread. The argument for or against capital punishment is not one that will be "won" by either side. People are either for it or against it and it's a matter of opinion. I see both sides views, but I'm still for it and that probably won't ever change.

However, my view on abortion has changed over the years, so who the hell knows?

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Originally Posted by Slomo

I agree with your sentiments, but I'm not sure if showing executions on TV would have the effect you're describing.

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Back in the day when executions were held in public, there were fireworks, calliopes and clowns, not to mention snake oil salesmen and dancing girls---and just about everybody attended and, from most reports, had a grand old time

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Originally Posted by johnsmith

Nah, not another day or another thread. The argument for or against capital punishment is not one that will be "won" by either side. People are either for it or against it and it's a matter of opinion. I see both sides views, but I'm still for it and that probably won't ever change.

However, my view on abortion has changed over the years, so who the hell knows?

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Wait a bloody second...lol...

We kill people over a matter of opinion? How fucking backwards is that??? lol

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Originally Posted by turambar85

Wait a bloody second...lol...

We kill people over a matter of opinion? How fucking backwards is that??? lol

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My bad, I meant that someone's view on capital punishment is a matter of opinion.

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Originally Posted by johnsmith

My bad, I meant that someone's view on capital punishment is a matter of opinion.

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But policy is made of the views of the common people. Yours, mine, even Boutons and X-rays, as sick as that is...

If you base a view, one regarding life and death, on opinion, and opinion shapes public policy, then the death penalty is based on opinion.

"Boutons .... as sick as that is..."

I'm sick because I'm anti-dubya, anti-Repug, anti-bullshit Iraq war, anti-wasting 3000 US military lives? YOU'RE the fucking sicko.

Capital punishment is governed by law. If enough people want capital punishment il/legalized, then they elect the legislators to change law.

Nobody is above the law, but the law is defined by the people who vote the legislators.

In this case, it's also about timing. Big mistake. We keep making big mistakes by repeating the same type of actions and expecting a different result. It's insane.

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Originally Posted by boutons_

"Boutons .... as sick as that is..."

I'm sick because I'm anti-dubya, anti-Repug, anti-bullshit Iraq war, anti-wasting 3000 US military lives? YOU'RE the fucking sicko.

Capital punishment is governed by law. If enough people want capital punishment il/legalized, then they elect the legislators to change law.

Nobody is above the law, but the law is defined by the people who vote the legislators.

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LOL, man you don't even take 10 seconds to figure out what someone is saying...hell, you didn't even read the entire sentence.

"Boutons and X-rays"

Each of you are extremist, narrow-minded, hate-filled lunatics who rave all day to no avail like the insane blogomaniacs you are.

And no, I don't think youre sick for hating on the war...I have been to multiple war protests since its onset, so I can hardly be described as a "fucking sicko" for that.

Congratulations for proving my point.

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Originally Posted by turambar85

LOL, man you don't even take 10 seconds to figure out what someone is saying...hell, you didn't even read the entire sentence.

"Boutons and X-rays"

Each of you are extremist, narrow-minded, hate-filled lunatics who rave all day to no avail like the insane blogomaniacs you are.

And no, I don't think youre sick for hating on the war...I have been to multiple war protests since its onset, so I can hardly be described as a "fucking sicko" for that.

Congratulations for proving my point.

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:lol :lol :lol

Sooner or later Saddam had to die, whether it was by hanging, fire-squad, or chemical induction, but there should be dignity in death even for evil bastards like Saddam. The trial and execution were a farce. I understand that the executioners had to wear masks for their own protection, but the Berg murders wore masks too, hello? Them praising religious Shiia leaders, Maqtada Al-Sadr and his father as Saddam died was chilling and very definitive of just how compromised the Iraqi government has become.