This and this are hilarious. B4L hereand here and Wongablog have already had a good laugh about it all and pointed out a few minor flaws (like the lack of any supporting evidence whatsoever).
I know the Guardian are trying to get on the good side of their religious readers but surely even they are not taken in by this drivel...then again if you can believe in god I suppose you can believe anything.
Other stuff this week;
Saddam Hussain 'live on TV' or should I say 'died on TV'. Capital punishment is pointless - doesn't satisfy our desire for punishment, is no deterrent at all, statistically guarantees killing innocent people and potentially creates martyrs for recruiting extremists to rally their cause. Great idea eh?
Sarfraz Manzoor makes the obvious point that some white people have a lot to learn from Muslims when it comes to respect and values. It needed saying and he makes his point very well. Of course most politicians shy away from alienating the racist whites because they are more numerous than Muslims and so there are too many votes at stake. Sadly Tony Blair and Trevor Phillips have decided not just to shy away from the white racists but to pander to them. We are never going to beat the racists if even those on the left or those employed to fight racism won't point out the flaw in the racist arguments. The truth is that immigrants are not inferior and generally make vast efforts to integrate into our society and integration should obviously be a two way street, white people should make the effort to integrate as well. The alienated second and third generation of immigrants are the product of our culture not their parents or grandparents culture. I am more worried by the vast influence of US corporate (and evangelical) culture than by any other cultural influence on our society.
Would capital punishment be more of a deterrent if a greater percentage of convicted murderers were executed though?
ReplyDeleteSnafu: the uk has one of the highest conviction rates in the world when it comes to murder (around 85%). We also have one of the lowest per capita murder rates.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing Harold Shipman, Fred West, Ian Huntley etc tried to do was kill themselves when they were caught. Dying was not a deterrent to them. Murderers are either very disturbed people or act on the spur of the moment, they do not think about the consequences of their actions.
Locking these people up for the rest of their lives is more of a deterrent and also gives society the moral high ground.
Oh dear, Neil.
ReplyDeleteYou write "Murderers [..] do not think about the consequences of their actions" and then "Locking these people up for the rest of their lives is more of a deterrent".
Both statements can't be true. If murderers don't think about the consequences, it is impossible to deter murder.
Anon: you are quite right. I should have put that locking people up is just as much of a deterrent as capital punishment (i.e. probably none at all), not more of a deterrent.
ReplyDeleteKilling is barbaric and the state should not lend it legitimacy by sanctioning it when there are alternatives.