# If you ran hell, what punishments would you set for the infamous dead? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2015, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197 "2015-03-28T11:46:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/21 "2015-03-28T20:23:37Z")
Total sensory deprivation/eternal nothingness. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/22 "2015-03-28T21:00:53Z")
If I ran Limbo, I’d have everyone limbo dancing. When people invariably asked, I’d explain that was where the name came from. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/23 "2015-03-28T21:54:41Z")
Listening to the Captain and Tennille for 8 hours every day. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/24 "2015-03-28T22:02:19Z")
For whom? I think some people are missing the point of the thread: > [@Leaper](#): > > where each punishment is tailor made for the individual’s crimes and psyche. Although, that’s easier said than done, and I haven’t come up with any good answers myself. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/25 "2015-03-29T00:55:14Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > The same for all of them. Shut them naked in empty, silent, featureless rooms for eternity. They literally never see or hear anything from outside that room again. Since they are already dead, they won’t even need fed. Hitler et. al. get to be alone with their thoughts forever. This is what I fantasize about doing to ISIS fighters - solitary confinement for the rest of your life, locked in a cell with no books, computers, magazines, etc. Fed through a slot in the wall, and never seeing or speaking to another human again. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/26 "2015-03-29T02:10:06Z")
> [@Kiyoshi](#): > > I would make Hitler view the entire life of each victim of the Holocaust, from birth to death, in real time, from a first-person perspective. > > Perhaps after living through 11 million lifetimes and murders, he might learn some compassion. > [@Kiyoshi](#): > > I’ve missed the edit window, but just to add to the above post: - > > Those 11 million lifetimes would be enough. I couldn’t put anyone, no matter how evil, through an eternity of consciousness. No one deserves such unimaginable cruelty. Agreement…also with the addendum. Infinite punishment is out of proportion. I can see some validity to the “threefold law,” so maybe making Hitler experience the lives of all his victims thrice would be proper. I dunno. I’ve never been comfortable with the threefold law, as it sounds to me too much like “three eyes for an eye and three teeth for a tooth.” But some kind of consciousness-raising exercise seems wholly valid. Maybe get a very good lecturer/teacher to explain, quietly and rationally, why some actions are wrong. If the person in question can be educated and reformed, that’s a good thing, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/27 "2015-03-29T06:37:23Z")
For any evil leader, solitary. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/28 "2015-03-29T11:54:10Z")
Itching like mad, all over, w/o a scratch mechanism. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/29 "2015-03-29T18:09:32Z")
Being all-knowing, which I presume the CEO of Hell would be, I would intuit what activity would constitute hopelessness for each individual. Then, like Sisyphus and his boulder, I would doom the individual to spend each day engaged in that activity, only to have it all disappear overnight and have to start all over again in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Whatever4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@Whatever4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whatever4)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/30 "2015-03-30T03:49:58Z")
I’d start with innumerable paper cuts on their thumbs and then ensure they had teeth sensitive to hot, cold, sweet, and random “yikes” for no reason at all. If they had been really nasty people, then rapid cycling bi-polar with nary a shrink or pill to be had. I’m not nice. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/31 "2015-03-30T03:52:39Z")
If I ran Hell, first thing I’d do would be a serious reorganization and rebranding. I’d create several new circles to directly compete with Heaven and these would be filled mostly with good people who were disqualified from Heaven on a mere technicality. Galileo, Einstein, Empedocles and the millions of generally good people had he misfortune of being condemned to Hell simply for never having heard of religion. Then I’d form a big marketing department to get the word out that New Hell™ is an appealing alternative to the stuffy, preachy boring Heaven. I’d still keep the lower circles for the truly evil people. Televangelists would run those. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/32 "2015-03-30T05:24:48Z")
So the ultimate HOA. You are an evil bastard. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197/33 "2015-03-30T14:45:38Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Itching like mad, all over, w/o a scratch mechanism. Excellent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ran-hell-what-punishments-would-you-set-for-the-infamous-dead/716197.md?page=1)