i was thinking more of the type of people with underlying extreme mental issues who get into bdsm with no safe words and just want to be staight punished! lol
Claverhouse I’d like to offer a ‘+1’ to this eloquent comment.
Given the intellectual and moral quality of a lot of the blogosphere nowadays, maybe America could benefit from a few public whippings of bloggers too.
Oh, why stop with bloggers? I think some commenters on message boards could stand flogging too, Hector St. Claire.
This. And it doesn’t matter how “safe” you are from common criminals when you have to watch everything you say or do, lest you yourself be flogged, imprisoned, or condemned for inadvertently committing an offense against their system of laws.
Yup.
Happened just before my first visit to the place. People were pretty happy about it, in general, as it showed the higher code of ethics that Saudi Arabia operated to, compared to the decadent west. That same trip a group of people going to Deera Square for their Friday entertainment tried to carry me along with them, as they think it’s entertaining to see Westerner’s reactions to the show.
SA is hideously backwards, there’s no two ways about it.
Oh, I agree. we’d probably disagree on what sort of people need flogging for their opinions, though.
Why do they persist with the capital punishment? If beheading, amputation, lashes, stoning etc worked there would be fewer and fewer cases over time wouldn’t there?
Well, not really. The criminal justice system is riddled with inefficiency and corruption. If you cut the wrong guy’s hand off… The violent crime rate is extremely low relative to most Western countries, though (even accounting for likely substantial underreporting.)
Yes, perhaps it would be in both our enlightened self interests to dispense with the flogging idea entirely.
Ummm, what? Singapore-style caning is apparently a fairly brutal experience but it’s nowhere near the same league as Saudi flogging. For a start it’s limited to 25 strokes per sentence, and secondly a half-inch wooden rod across the rump doesn’t slice the victim up in the same way as a whip. As far as I know no-one has ever claimed it’s a life-threatening experience for a reasonably healthy adult, whereas flogging most certainly is.
How much more backwards can a country be when a person can be killed for abandoning the state sanctioned religion?
It’s not *much *more arbitrary than putting people in prison for smoking weed, is it ?
Well, that’s still not in the same league as flogging someone to shreds for it.
True, but then they seem to have much lower standards for state-sponsored violence in general, so. I mean, I don’t condone their way of doing things, not by a long shot. And you couldn’t pay me enough to set foot in Saudi Arabia. But it’s internally consistent, it’s not especially irrational… and it seems to work for them. For given values of “work”.
Besides, 10 or 20 whiplashes ? Fucks up your day for sure, and maybe you take up to 6 months to recuperate even. But 2+ years in jail, when you’re 20 or 30, that’s your entire life passing you by - enough time to learn the convict’s way of doing or resolving things, letting *that *ruin your shit when you’re let out. Enough time for your children and family to leave you behind, for your friends to move on, for your employers to forget all about you…
It’s not harmless at all. It just *looks *cleaner.
My bolding. Quite correct, you do not insult Islam in the KSA, unless you’re completely out of your mind or online in an anonymous forum, on a computer which can’t be traced back to you, and preferably not physically in the KSA.
I’ve heard about stonings and crucifictions, although I’m not sure if they happen in Riyadh or some or the really ‘traditional’ areas outside of the capital. You’re at a serious risk of carjacking in the outer areas. I heard about a guy (in the south, maybe Abha - which is up high and very green) who shot his son dead, for bringing shame on the family. He confessed, was brought to court, and the judge thought it was okay and he got let off.
There was a news report a couple of years ago of two guys, dressed in uniform, at a security check who stopped an American and his daughter. They raped the daughter and beat the father to within an inch of his life. The authorities found them and they were beheaded pretty quickly. Crime, generally, in Saudi as well as a lot of the ME is very rare compared with many countries. People date (both sexes), drink, do drugs, drive recklessly, practice other religions, and God knows what else, but they do it either at home or out in the desert. Publicly doing any of those is pretty dumb.
Backwards? How about we call it what it is. Barbaric. Savage works too.
I can’t imagine anyone surviving that kind of abuse for a year. All because he had an opinion.
Drives me up the wall that they’re our friends but folks are raising holy hell over warming up relations with Cuba.