[Very OT] Saddam Hanging Video -- Some comments

[Madison Kelly]

Stephen Allen wrote:
> Madison Kelly wrote:
> 
>> Fark took the stance that even though groups like CNN and Fox want to
>> share it, fine for them, but they wouldn't. For that, I give them huge
>> props. As they said, it's a snuff film. To me, watching it is akin to
>> getting everyone out for a good 'ol public hanging. Something that
>> should have stayed done away with.
> 
> I can't agree with this -- It's important for people to see reality from
> time to time, especially in the western world, where we are so pampered,
> and often don't realize what's important in life, other than material
> things.

I agree that our society (western) is far too detached from reality. The 
litigious society south of the border is an example of this taken to the 
extreme. We raise kids in bubbles, shielding them from their own 
mistakes. The result is a society who can't grasp the simple concept of 
self-reliance, self-responsibility and that their actions can have 
consequences.

Perhaps we should mandate that high-school kids should volunteer at 
hospitals, prisons, rehab facilities and such. I think that might go a 
long way in helping turn this around.

but

Do you think many people, if anyone, changed one bit because they saw 
that film?

> CNN and the other media outlets did the so called right thing, NOT
> because they're paragon's of virtue, but because they were under
> pressure from the administration, as the American government wished to
> detach themselves from the event, and didn't wish to appear to be
> "gloating". That wouldn't have played well in the middle east (no
> kidding eh).

You are likely onto something, sadly. However, I doubt there needed to 
be much arm twisting. This has generated a LOT of traffic/profits for them.

> It should be watched with repulsion, not with enjoyment. It's important
> for people to see what other people can do to others, and what
> retribution is all about, whether one believes in it or not. The
> important thing is that the majority of the world does, when one lives
> outside of the liberal democracies.

Wars should be fought with a sense of regret, not excitement. I am a 
pacifist and do not even kill bugs when I can avoid it. However, if a 
war broke out, and it was a just war (ie: WWII defending against Hitler) 
then I would fight. Not with pride, but with regret that it came this far.

Most people in our society have never seen death. They have not seen 
broken bodies. These things are hidden away with surprising efficiency. 
This is largely why people get excited about war. You see soldiers 
whooping and hollering as they kill enemy soldiers. Movies glorify and 
romanticize this. People don't understand what it means though, to see a 
life end.

That is why this video is useless in the public, at least in our 
society. Most people watching this will have no frame of reference more 
valid than pop-media.

> We're far too politically correct for our own good. <sigh>

Like religion, PC has been co-opted. Political correctness was meant to 
be a tool to help people in a society accept that others with different 
backgrounds were inherently equal, and should be judged by their 
character and actions, not their racial, political, religious or medical 
backgrounds.

It has been taken and used by people who wish to sanitize the world and 
used to hide away everything unpleasant. Much like how religion has been 
used to dictate a certain morality on to others and to preach 
intolerance towards those are different - contrary to the core teaching 
of all (major) religions.

Madi
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