DISQUS

odd time signatures: Politics of Execution

  • Dan · 4 years ago
    I applaud the decision to execute the likes of 'tookie' williams and his fellows...too many of these murdering swine are allowed to live in peace while the families of the victims are made to suffer for the rest of their lives!...no amount of bible thumping or professions of sorrow can assuage the grief of the victims...the only things I dont like about the executions are the fact they are held in private and take so damn long to carry out...most of these cons should have been snuffed out 20 and more years ago...so they have had it easy!....id hang em high and save money on the electricity used...or the gas wasted!....and the needle is just too kind in my opinion...make the bastards feel the pain and terror they put their victims through...and hey!...if you think im vicious or an animal...your right...but only when it comes to these scumballs!
  • Katharine · 4 years ago
    DrumsNWhistles, your post is excellent and quite moving. Thank you for telling your family's story.
  • Puggyspice · 3 years ago
    I am so sad about the tragic death of your grandfather and the others who were murdered by this monster. Thank you for sharing this and your views on the 'justice' system.

    Spiritually, I agree with you that someone's criminal behavior does not justify killing him. It does turn the rest of us into monsters. Forgiveness is what we all should aspire to, for our own well-being and the collective conscience.

    However, on an intellectual and emotional level, I think the creep needed to die. Some of the execution cases seem like gray areas, but this one doesn't. This is not a productive member of society who got out of control and killed the creep who raped his child. This isn't a woman who fought back and killed the husband who beat her. (Those cases I think it's unfair to judge because everyone has a breaking point.) But this was someone who killed people for no comprehensable reason at all - multiple people! Each person killed equals many, many victims who suffered a devastating loss. And with no explanation. This was an act of evil and people like that have no business remaining on this planet.

    That is my opinion, with all due respect to how you feel on the issue.
  • drumsnwhistles · 3 years ago
    Puggyspice,

    I do understand your point of view. I do. I just don't think any of us, criminal or not, have the right to decide who remains on the planet, no matter how strong our desire to take care of them and no matter how evil their acts.

    But I'm glad you came and commented! And with a nickname of Puggyspice I suspect we have more in common than differences. ;-)

    Take care,

    DnW
  • Susan Kitchens · 7 months ago
    Wow. Came here tonight through your tweet. What an amazing story, thank you for sharing it.

    A couple of years ago I attended a dinner where the keynote speaker was a journalist who knew Tookie Williams; she got to know him during his incarceration, and was present at time of his execution.. She described her experience and the execution to us during the course of the dinner. I remember taking copious notes, thinking, "this is so bloggable" but it was one of many things squeezed together at time of high activity, so it never got blogged. It's all written down on a stack of yellow index cards, though. Next time I run across it, I'll look through it and see if there's anything there worth sharing with you
  • Karoli · 7 months ago
    I'd love that, thanks. And thank you for reading...this is probably the most
    significant post I ever wrote on this blog, at least in my hierarchy of
    important topics. :)