Posted on 05/05/2014 7:14:23 PM PDT by grundle
A quick, painless, gruesome way to carry out capital punishment
If I were governor of a state that executed prisoners I'd declare a moratorium for my entire tenure. I wish that the United States would stop imposing the death penalty. I nevertheless find myself nodding along to Sonny Bunch's case for reintroducing the guillotine, a response to the botched execution of a death-row inmate in Oklahoma.
He argues that America has made its executions bloodless to protect the sensibilities of those who support the death penalty, with less humane killings as a result. (The electric chair. The gas chamber. Lethal injections. All have had horrific problems.)
Bunch writes:
"The guillotine really seems to solve everyone’s problems: It was designed to deliver an efficient, quick, and painless death. It performs that task admirably. I understand the irony of a reactionary such as myself embracing the Terror’s preferred method of execution, but one must give credit where it’s due."
"If we’re going to do something—and a large number of Americans and American states are pretty committed to performing executions—we ought to do it right. And “right” in this case means a quick and painless death. I can’t really imagine any reasonable objections to a widespread adoption of the guillotine."
I can imagine one objection: that the guillotine is barbaric.
But to me, that's a point in its favor. Let's have no illusions about what we're doing when the state carries out the killing of captive prisoners. I imagine support for the death penalty would decline rather quickly once heads started rolling.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I’m puzzled by this entire discussion.
It seems to me that large animals (horses, etc.) are calmly put down every day - without any problems as far as I’ve heard.
It seems to me that we’re creating a very complex process out of something that is rather commonplace & simple.
Am I missing something?
He's delusional. My sensibilities wouldn't be offended by bloody executions. Bloody executions might actually cause those murderers to think twice before killing an innocent.
We've made our executions bloodless to protect the delicate sensibilities of the bleeding-heart liberals who care more about the rights of the violent thugs than the murdered innocents.
Well, you imagine wrong, chump.
He’s delusional. My sensibilities wouldn’t be offended by bloody executions. Bloody executions might actually cause those murderers to think twice before killing an innocent.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
I always liked to think the reason we had ‘town squares’ was for summer band concerts and an occasional public hanging, beheading or stoning.
May be a good platform to run on. Even throw in the summer band concerts for good measure.
NO-has this author or yourself actually read The Book of Revelations?
Don’t you think that a corrupt government could easily use this on Christians, Conservatives and others..??
More recent was the case of Saddam's half-brother and intelligence chief, Barzan Ibrahim, the five of clubs on the wanted card deck, who became two quarter-brothers as a result of a botched hanging.
Your old illustration isn't far off, as the photographic evidence shows (dare you to click).
Use a laser instead of a blade and it will seer the edges so there is no mess to clean up!!!!
They all look like SKS’s to me.
The author is no reactionary if he writes for The Atlantic and opposes death penalty
France including the various terror reigns executed 10,000s with the guillotine
If the blade is honed and properly weighted and the track kept clear and oiled
It is indeed effective 100%
Not a human neck tough enough to thwart it
Means of execution say more about those executing than the desire to inflict torture
Civilized folks prefer their executions humane
Hangings at that time mostly
Televised guillitine executions would make a good point to the riff-raff.
How about pay per view
Execution by guillotine is not instantaneous. There have been many observed instances where the head has still been conscious for several seconds afterwards. A shotgun to the back of the head straight through the brain stem and cerrubellum provide instant death, but would be extremely messy, and eventually turn the executioner into a complete head case.
That's an excellent point.
Yes, a corrupt government could use this on innocent people. But the argument here is not about whether or not to use the death penalty. The argument here is which method of execution to use.
I understand George Washington grew hemp.
Death by Hellfire missile...or dynamite. What ever happened to "An eye for an eye"?
If we get anymore "civilized" we'll be a society solely made up of tree-huggers and child molesters..
No we won’t.
We still execute.
Torturing people to death in capital cases is not appropriate no matter the bloodlust or anger
Hanging....injection....firing squad and yes guillotine all appear humane
Gas chamber as well.
Electrocution as practiced seems problematic on occasion
Yes Washington grew hemp ....I missed the point
Pranksters even in my day claimed he drank a ganja tea too
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.