Joy
A while back I was channel surfing late at night and came across a hunting show. The two hunters, dressed in camouflage were trying to get close to a mule deer so they could shoot it. The mule deer saw them, got spooked and took off running. Extremely pissed was the best description of the hunters’ reaction. They had missed a kill and it had ruined their day.
One of the things hunters fail to mention when they talk about the merits of hunting is the rush they get from ending a life. Oh, they will say that they appreciate the beauty of nature (right before they blow it away) and they will speak of the need to keep down animal populations (those bleeding heart environmentalists!). They will even claim that they love eating the animals they kill (yup, nothing like tough gamey meat every meal for a month). The real reason they like hunting, though, is the thrill of the kill. It is a challenge. But why not knitting or video games? Why not basketball or a crossword? Those are challenges. No, to them, there is something thrilling about blinking something else out of existence.
Yesterday, Scott Peterson was sentences to death. The crowd outside the courtroom gleefully cheered. Smiling jurors were given their 15-minutes of fame with interviews. They said Peterson did not seem emotional enough.
When advocates of the death penalty mention the merits of the system, they claim it is a deterrent (as if life in prison and anal rape is not good enough). They also claim that it is justice and that is gives families a sense of closure (as if life in prison and anal rape is not good enough). They fail to mention the thrill and the glee involved with the death penalty. They fail to mention the joy and the tears of happiness that people get from putting someone to death. They fail to mention the thrill of blinking someone else out of existence.
One of the things hunters fail to mention when they talk about the merits of hunting is the rush they get from ending a life. Oh, they will say that they appreciate the beauty of nature (right before they blow it away) and they will speak of the need to keep down animal populations (those bleeding heart environmentalists!). They will even claim that they love eating the animals they kill (yup, nothing like tough gamey meat every meal for a month). The real reason they like hunting, though, is the thrill of the kill. It is a challenge. But why not knitting or video games? Why not basketball or a crossword? Those are challenges. No, to them, there is something thrilling about blinking something else out of existence.
Yesterday, Scott Peterson was sentences to death. The crowd outside the courtroom gleefully cheered. Smiling jurors were given their 15-minutes of fame with interviews. They said Peterson did not seem emotional enough.
When advocates of the death penalty mention the merits of the system, they claim it is a deterrent (as if life in prison and anal rape is not good enough). They also claim that it is justice and that is gives families a sense of closure (as if life in prison and anal rape is not good enough). They fail to mention the thrill and the glee involved with the death penalty. They fail to mention the joy and the tears of happiness that people get from putting someone to death. They fail to mention the thrill of blinking someone else out of existence.
posted by American Dilettante at
11:41 AM
1 Comments:
I always find the after-trial comments about the accused/convicted given by jurors, journalists, survivors, and other observers interesting in that if the defendant cries or offers an apology or is in some way expressive or emotional, his/her response is generally dismissed as being faked. Then if the defendant is expression-less, then the person is described as being unemotional, unrepentant, etc. So no matter how the defendant behaves, he or she will also be seen as somehow "not acting right", whatever the right way might be.
In the case of Peterson, there was of course more than his behavior during the trial, which I realize, but it seems to hold for others as well.
But to the actual point of your post, you've hit on what is probably the driving point of both game hunting and death penalty supporting proponents. The thrill of the kill. I've heard it said that professional team sports offer a kind of virtual war for fans in that even though they aren't engaged in actual war, they can experience the emotions of war vicariously through following professional sports, and that the role of competitive sports in capitalistic societies (maybe in played the same role in Greece and earlier societies, too) is intended directly or inadvertantly to fullfill this function (as game hunting and the death penalty).
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Bulworth, at 1:46 PM
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