Would you attend a public execution?

[JivinJeffJones]

Fuck no.

[Jennifer]

I would simply because I feel that
(1) it's lame to have a society where we let government do things that we personally might not approve of and even hide from because they unsettle us.
(2) I would want to understand the whole concept and experience, even if it unsettles me, so I get a bigger picture of the society and the forces at work and can make clearer assessments and better decisions.
(3) I also have this weird thing about how awful it is to die (emotionally) alone or surrounded by people who hate you. Even if I despise what the person had done, they're still human. I think Saddam did awful awful things but I didn't really like seeing how things were handled in his execution... although then again, he treated others the same way.

But don't have any doubts about this: It will unsettle me pretty heavily.

Originally Posted by Mo

Mob hysteria is a disgusting human trait.

Who says attending would be solely a buying into mob hysteria?
There are other reasons to attend.

[Athenian200]

Normally I would not. Watching people die isn't my cup of tea.

If it were someone that had been terrorizing me for a long time, who I'd been living in fear of... I might very well want to watch it just to make sure they were actually caught, killed, and dead so I could sleep soundly. I wouldn't really enjoy it, though. It would be more a matter of wanting to take the opportunity to know, beyond any doubt, that I was safe from them. I suppose one positive thing about them, in general, is they convey a sense of security in the knowledge that crime is being punished. If you see it happening, it's more real than if you just hear about it.

Oh, one more thing... if public execution disgusts you, but you're okay with the death penalty, then your values are a bit immature. If it's wrong to execute them in public, then why not consider it wrong to do so at all?

[Antisocial one]

Only with my personal tank brigade.

[Lohengrin]

Originally Posted by Jennifer

Who says attending would be solely a buying into mob hysteria?
There are other reasons to attend.

I should have been more specific; when I mentioned mob hysteria, I was referring to the 'well-attended' frequent public hangings of ages past which Berberella had mentioned and which still occur sporadically in the rural areas of my country.

[OneWithSoul]

No. Never. However, I'd full heartedly excecute someone who has done wrong to others or myself or family. I'd have no problems killing someone if they had F'd with my values or those I love.

[JivinJeffJones]

Originally Posted by Jennifer

I would simply because I feel that
(1) it's lame to have a society where we let government do things that we personally might not approve of and even hide from because they unsettle us.

I'm not quite sure what you're saying here. Are you saying that we shouldn't let the government do these things, or that we should be present while they do these things?

Originally Posted by Jennifer

(2) I would want to understand the whole concept and experience, even if it unsettles me, so I get a bigger picture of the society and the forces at work and can make clearer assessments and better decisions.

I doubt you'd get a bigger picture of anything. An overwhelmingly smaller, more personal picture if anything.

Originally Posted by Jennifer

(3) I also have this weird thing about how awful it is to die (emotionally) alone or surrounded by people who hate you. Even if I despise what the person had done, they're still human. I think Saddam did awful awful things but I didn't really like seeing how things were handled in his execution... although then again, he treated others the same way.

A nice thought, but an invisible one to the person being executed. Unless you smiled at them or called out some encouragement or held up a sign or something. Otherwise (to them) you'd just be another person standing there endorsing their death.

[Lady X]

absolutely not....disgusting.

[toonia]

I would not attend unless it was a loved one, and I was there to support them.

I remember when I was in college, someone in the town was to be executed by lethal injection. Many crowds gathered including the protesters and the ones excited and happy to see someone die. It went a long way to convincing me that the death penalty is a bad idea. If for no other reason, the effect it has on society as a whole.

Mob mentality is what frightens me most about humanity. In one setting a person dissolved in group think might help sandbag a river or save puppies, and then the same person given over to mob mentality will be cheering while someone is hanged. It's that instability in people, the way they are defined externally so often that disturbs me to the core. I have to wonder if public violence and execution can occur without bringing out some of the group sadism in people. I haven't encountered a scenario where it didn't bring out the worst in some portion of those attending (more often the majority).

[Fluffywolf]

Would I attend a public execution of a criminal? No.

Would I be bothered if I walk around and it just so happens in front of me there's a public execution going on of a criminal? No.