Thoughts!Non-ThoughtsThoughts
| Death - the Edge of Justice[1998-02-09]Murder sanctioned by the state, or using the "legitimate" term, death penalty, has come into the focus of the eyes of the world lately. And it is not some "democratically under-evolved" country or a country where the penalty is sanctioned on basis of the state-religion that has caused this debate. No, the nation in focus is the United States of America. The state of Texas, where this took place, is the state most prone to give death penalties as a sentence; and there is indeed very little debate over this (in Texas, that is.) Now, all of a sudden, everyone seems to know about the penalty that was carried out last week. How come? Well, there are a couple of reasons. Maybe the most important was, that the executed person was a woman. This is very unusual (and has never happened in Texas since the re-introduction of the death penalty 1976). For some strange reason, executing women is looked upon in a totally different way than sending men off to death penalties. Another reason, maybe even stranger then the first one, is that people felt compassion for her, not because of the fact that death penalty actually is morally wrong, but because she had become a believer during her time in prison and had committed herself to the Christian God. Finally, another tragically important reason was that fact that she was white. I see it as something very good that she regretted her crimes, I don't mind her being christian (or indeed, white), and I do not for one second sanction the death penalty, simply because of the fact that I believe killing other people, be it for political reasons, justicial reasons or whatever, it is still morally wrong. And nothing can change that fact. BUT: what difference does the sex, religion or colour of the person that is to be sentenced make? "We are all equal to the law", is a sentence that we often get to hear. But is this not proof that it is not so? Even people that otherwise fight FOR the death penalty protested in this case. NOT because they believed that the she was not guilty - she was guilty, beyond all doubt - but because of the reasons given above. No doubt, a coloured man would not as much as caused a blink from those hypocrites. Even the Pope begged for the life of this woman. Now I wonder, would he have done the same for the life of a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu or someone else not belonging to the "Christian brotherhood"? I think not, and this makes me scared. - What is this world coming to? |
[d] [d] [d] [d] | These pages are created by: David Weinehall Last changed: 2016-07-18T00:20:52EEST |