[fla-left] Bloody execution photos draw gamut ofresponses(fwd)

[Carl Remick]

>In our more cynical times, such argument's appear otiose or
>hypocritical. We recoil from the idea of punishment, which strikes us as
>pre-modern.
>
>The great crisis of the liberal theory of the law came with the 1977
>decision of Gary Gilmore not to avoid the death penalty. Gilmore shocked
>liberal society because he said that he had been sentenced to death and
>so should die. This was unintelligible to most commentators, because
>none of them could imagine a situation where someone would willingly
>give up their lives.

I think there are rare instances of individuals who do indeed want to prove 
that society is, at base, as evil and violent as they are and openly welcome 
capital punishment.  Something of this dynamic is present in Melville's 
novel Billy Budd, where an evil petty officer (Taggart?) taunts an utterly 
innocent -- indeed, as critics note, Christ-like -- crewman, Billy Budd, 
into killing him, thereby corrupting Budd.  I'm embarrassed to say I haven't 
read the novel but have seen only the movie.  Robert Ryan did a great job as 
the evil petty officer; Terrence Stamp was great as Budd; and Peter Ustinov 
excellent as the agonized Capt. Villiers, who is forced to hang Budd for his 
crime.

Carl

Carl

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com