Thou Shall Not Kill
When the film American Me premiered in Los Angeles in 1992, director Edward James Olmos walked up to the stage to introduce his directorial debut. What stood out was the question he asked those of us in attendance: What do you think is the most addictive, powerful high one can experience?
His answer was news to me. The addiction he was referring to wasn't heroin, it was murder. Olmos wanted his audience to understand this. The act of killing another person was a thrill beyond any other. It would haunt any murderer for the rest of their life, damaging their soul and leaving them with a craving for the unquenchable power that only comes by ending another's life. Think serial killers.
Nobody questioned Olmos' assertion. As the film's director, he had learned much about gang culture by embedding himself in their world to create the most realistic portrayal for the story he hoped to tell.
His words always stuck with me, and it made me wonder if murder became one of the Ten Commandments precisely because it damages our soul.
Now, Republicans, the only political machine that's hellbent on taking us way back in time, the one party that outlaws abortion as murder, but not regime change where entire populations are eradicated, have decided it's a good idea to bring back firing squads. The idea is to cut costs and give volunteers the thrill of a lifetime by legally killing a "bad" human being.
We're all well-aware of trigger-happy ICE agents who freely use their weapons to kill these days, and we know that war veterans who have killed others never truly rest easy. My own father who served in Vietnam, was mentally tortured in his last years of Parkinson's by daily "sightings" of Vietnamese soldiers doing military exercises in his home's backyard here in the U.S.
So why would Republicans want to corrupt the souls of these new volunteer firing squads? What does this achieve? Wasn't this barbaric practice abandoned long ago because it was considered inhumane and uncivilized?
Are Republicans now saying, let's be barbarians? Let's give our boys some red meat? And who gets to mop up the mess? Is sanitizing the kill floor part of the volunteer package? Do we even care if this damages the volunteers' souls or permeates their brains with a disturbing new high they can't get enough of?
Last question: how on earth will it make America great again?
Present Valley
Your post follows some information I recently discovered and was shocked to read.
James Kimmel, Jr., an attorney out of Yale's medical school has just published a very interesting book, The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World's Deadliest Addiction and How to Overcome It.
His evidence backed claim that revenge is an addiction stunned me. Perhaps like when you heard Edward James Olmos speak about murder as an addiction. Apparently a grievance which is often a precursor to revenge, doing harm to another human being, activates the pain network in the brain and makes retaliation feel rewarding. People like mass shooters are "grievance collectors." He goes on to say that social media has become a grievance transmission machine.
I just wonder what are the grievances that have been collected and why people have not gotten psychological help when they are storing them. Most people do know they are storing because their behavior changes, their temper is short, they are basically angry at the world and looking for evidence to prove they have a right to have a grievance.
Evangel
Yes, so true. Much of gang violence is revenge for what a rival gang member did. We also know this from how the mafia has always operated. Gangs are like families you can't get out of. If you try, you're a goner because it means you've betrayed the group. That also calls for vengeance. Killing out of vengeance gives one the satisfaction they were seeking. It calms their rage, but it twists them. Vengeance and murder are like two sides of the same coin. Sadly, mafia and gang members are usually Catholic and believe all will be forgiven if they believe in Christ. So the violence continues and is passed down from generation to generation.
Well Street
Governments using firing squads very likely don't think this practice has any negative ramifications for their "members." They probably portray firing squad members as heroes and patriots who should feel pride in helping to deliver justice, similarly to ICE propaganda.
With the logistical challenges that come with lethal injection, the state governments figure that executing death row inmates isn't going to stop, so as a matter of practicality, they probably believe the method is of little importance.
Seeing Mr. Olmos speak must have been very interesting. He would occasionally come into the grocery store I worked in and was very pleasant. He came through my checkout lane once and asked if I was attending college. I told him I was, and he smiled and nodded approvingly.
Evangel
Portraying members of a firing squad as heroes or patriots is the danger here. They may even get medals for volunteer service. It's like putting gilt on tin. Ultimately it sanctions killing and goes against Christian doctrine. But beyond that, it gives someone permission to kill the "bad guy," even if that bad guy is an immigrant who's here legally. Thanks for your comment. It's nice to hear Olmos approved of you being in college.
Slipstream
Being on the death squad would have to take its toll. To march a prisoner down the hall to be placed on the death table or to put the needle in the prisoner's arm is enough to give you nightmares. But to actually point a rifle and fire at a person's heart would have to cause long-term psychological effects. A person who's done that might not think twice about pulling out a gun and shooting the person who cut them off in traffic.
Evangel
Yes, you are so right. We have enough crazies with guns in our country, more than anywhere else in the world. This just glorifies killing by handing out "justice" to unworthy, trigger-happy volunteers.