Or even better, Pinochet is certainly filled with responsibility for the death and torture of untold thousands of Chileans, and at least one American journalist. I might like to see Mr. Pinochet suffer terribly for his crimes, which far surpass those of that guy who was recently electocuted by the US gov't. But, I know two things. One, ain't gonnna happen, ever never ever. And 2, responding to the suffering of the rapist/murderer in the photos with glee only reinforces the likelihood that more Pinochet/Thatcher style mass murders will occur as well as the phenomenon of 'blue collar' crime in general.
This aint just middle class liberal soft heartedness speaking. It's just practical knowledge about the class politics and effects of the DP...
I suppose that I should feel happy when some welfare cheat is caught too...but knowledget informed by struggles by welfare rights organizations would likewise tell me, 'not practical.'
Steve
Stephen Philion Lecturer/PhD Candidate Department of Sociology 2424 Maile Way Social Sciences Bldg. # 247 Honolulu, HI 96822
On Sat, 9 Oct 1999, Rob Schaap wrote:
> G'day again Observers,
>
> I've some sympathy for both Max and Yoshie/Jordan's position. I reckon
> revenge is a valid part of the picture (I mean, if this bloke did those
> things) - but it's only a part. The trouble is, it seems a part that gets
> tendentiously hidden behind walls of talk about 'deterrence' (which is
> demonstrably not the case) and 'justice' (which is supposed to be a cold
> process of calculating equity and fairness - which it demonstrably ain't).
>
> Max's response is more honest and understandable - but questions of (a) the
> execution of innocents; (b) the demonstrable racial, class, and possibly
> gender, inequity; (c) what we're doing to the innocent loved ones of the
> executed person; and (d) how a Christian state like the US gets around the
> commandments upon which it validates itself - the incoherence of defying
> killing with killing - all make even his position difficult.
>
> Best not to let the kiddies glory in a ghastly death just coz it was a
> state-dealt death, I reckon. I can't quite appreciate the crucial
> distinction here, so I doubt they could.
>
> Anyway, it costs less to bang 'em up than fry 'em, doesn't it? I'da
> thought that was an argument that would wash in this day and age ...
>
> Cheers,
> Rob.
>
> >> From sawicky at epinet.org Sat Oct 9 20:02:46 1999
> >>
> >> Here's one more response:
> >> What a pity his fucking head didn't explode.
> >>
> >>Nothing like a little revenge, eh Max?
> >>
> >>Capital punishment is barbaric. Grow up.
> >>
> >>/jordan
> >
> >Capital punishment, along with constant media attention to violent crimes,
> >seems to make the public mind morbid and/or brutal. It is bizarre that so
> >many people wanted to see and download the photos of the executed man that
> >the server crashed. And the forwarded story said:
> >
> >> "I am a 33-year-old mother of two young
> >> children who expected to be disturbed by
> >> these pictures," one woman wrote in an e-mail
> >> to Craig Waters, a spokesman for the state's
> >> high court who helps manage the court's Web
> >> page. "I looked anyway. To my surprise I felt
> >> nothing but relief that this scum is now long
> >> gone!"
> >
> >Her comment as well as Max's is as disturbing to me as the execution itself.
> >
> >Yoshie
>
>
>
>