Well, if the number of people looking at this thread has anything to do with it, I beg to differ. I thought this thread was going to link to the video - as I am sure most people reading and writing here (including yourself?) thought from the title of the thread.
Do I want to see it? Hmm - a part of me says no, but another part of me says yes - and I probably would click on it to see it.
I believe I read a few months ago that if, and when, Saddam is hanged, they will almost have to show it on Arab television, as the populace there won’t really believe it unless they see it.
The original plans (even up to last week) were to have this execution take place in a stadium!!! That should give you an indication how many people wanted to see this. The only reason they did not have it take place in a stadium is that the US Forces could not guarantee the safety of the event.
Maybe they were afraid Janet Jackson would show up and bare her nipple. Now THAT would outrage America.
Dammit, Just post the damn vid then! CNN skirts posting it to the point of having some Iraqi lackey describing the scene. Just post the damn vid and let us draw our own conclusions!
I posted this on another board… Saddam WAS executed tonight (tomorrow) He swung from a rope. THIS HAPPENED. You and others can try to supress this, but it actually happened. It’s not a snuff film, it’s history. You can bend and shape it for all you’re worth, it is what it is.
As long as they didn’t have SADDAM flash his pierced nipple—now THAT would give me nightmares.
Anyway, yeah, I’ll watch it—I’ve watched footage of people dying before, deserving or not. I’ve watched the Nuremberg executions. People die, that’s a fact of life. Famous people die, and that’s a part of history. It’s a little late to get squeamish.
That doesn’t mean we have to approve, or that we want to watch. I don’t need any more than the abstract knowledge of the act, thank you very much, any more than I need more than the abstract knowledge of your bowel movements.
I don’t approve of capital punishment either, in most cases, no more than 51-49… I respect your right to oppose it, and your right not to see it, but I think he was a murderer of the highest order. And I am glad he is dead. My desire to see him die is as important as your desire to NOT see him die. See my point?
If anyone ever got his just desserts, it was Saddam. After what he did to the Kurds, I don’t feel the slightest bit sorry for him. But do I desire to watch him pay for his murders? No, I don’t. It is enough to know that his actions were not without consequence – that he is finally paying for all those people who died at his order. I just feel no desire to witness that punishment myself.
Now, to be perectly honest, if it were Osama Bin Laden, I might watch it. I would not be proud of it – in fact, I may even be ashamed – but I admit I might get some satisfaction from watching him pay for 9/11. Is this wrong? Maybe. I don’t know, but honestly, that’s how I feel.
[Moderator]
Sorry to be getting to this late. Yeah, a discussion of TV policies normally would go in Cafe Society. But this is not a discussion of arts/entertainment, this is a discussion of news and so belongs in Great Debates, rather than in Cafe Society, methinks. And, BTW, the quick poll on whether one would watch it if it were televised belongs in IMHO.
Since it needs to be in one place, I think you’ll get more and varied responses from the Great Debates Forum. [/Moderator]
[Poster]My own feeling is that there’s not much point to capital punishment as a deterrent unless it’s public.[/Poster]
Oh yeah, to the OP- I’ll watch it. Don’t have kids but if I did, I’d judge when they were an appropriate age, and then have them watch it as a “sic semper tyrannus” lesson.
I’ve seen a YouTube version already, that cut away before the drop.
I’d watch it in its entirety (but would be prepared to be disturbed by it). I don’t think it’s right to show it on TV, nor would I let my son within a bull’s roar of it.
There’s nothing graphic. It’s from CNN and cuts away as soon as they put the noose around his neck. All I can say is that he looked calm, which is how I’ve read that most people look in the moments before their execution. He wasn’t smiling, but he wasn’t exactly begging for his life, either.
