[quote]OARSMAN wrote:
Nominal Prospect wrote:
JD430 wrote:
The difference between us and Saddam is that as much of a piece of shit as he was, we still had strange feelings about the whole thing. I can guarantee you that none of those emotions ever crossed his soul when he was gassing thousands or stuffing them in meat grinders.
The last sentence is ridiculous given the fact that he, personally, never killed anyone. His underlings did. This means that, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the man was executed for other peoples’ doings. Stick that in your cud and chew on it.
Since you seem to be so proud of your argument, I will take particular joy in shredding it.
Saddam is as guilty as any of his henchman, in fact more so, as I will explain shortly. To even propose otherwise is the height of stupidity.
Not only was the idea his, but he knowingly approved it, endorsed it, and for all we know celebrated it. The rest was just logistics, that was the scale he operated on. That motherfucker didn’t kill 10-20 people - this guy killed tens of thousands, and if you count all the wars he provoked, then hundreds of thousands.
In any court of criminal law that is pretty much the same as committing the crime yourself. Civilly, he would also get clipped under the theory of “respondeat superior” as well.
What next, are you going to argue that Hitler isn’t really a mass murderer because he wasn’t the one that was actually dropping the cannisters of Zyklon-B into the gas chambers?
Saddam’s crime - the crime of any dictator put to the gallows - was not murder, but power.
Wow. Did you read that in the two chapters of Foucault you read in philosophy class or something? Old Michel is rolling in his grave with that interpretation. I’ll bet you thought that nugget was particularly brilliant didn’t you?
For dictators don’t kill, they command others to do so.
My question again - what’s the fucking difference? None.
The only thing that separates their commands from a homeless bum’s is the factor of power.
What a loaded analogy - that’s a horrible argument. You should be ashamed of yourself.
No what separates Saddam’s commands from the bum’s is not “power” (which is an incredibly loaded word whose context you never fully explained) but “fear” - which is a form of COERCIVE power - and not the power you are discussing - for if the henchmen did not follow orders - they would die along with the intended victims. If anything, that exculpates the henchmen more than Saddam, pretty much destroying your argument on that point alone.
You also seem to forget the main element in first-degree murder that he was convicted of - PREMEDITATED INTENT - the actual act is just the icing on the cake. The intent is what crosses the line from manslaughter and lesser grades of murder to the death-penalty level crime, and Saddam is guilty of that in spades.
Thus, Saddam’s only crime was being too powerful (yet ultimately, not powerful enough).
No. Saddam’s crimes are too numerous to mention here, but we can all agree that he was a pre-meditated cold blooded killer.
The murder of any powerful individual by his inferiors is an affront to nature. By killing off powerful individuals, you leave behind nothing but mediocrity. Most people understand this to a certain extent, so long as their own status in the power hierarchy doesn’t come into play.
Spare us the totally incorrect interpretations of Nietzsche. That last paragraph was just beyond crap. No need for me to tear it up - just read that out loud - you’ll notice how silly it really is.
For instance, people toss back trophy fish for this very reason. But we’re not so good about applying it to human affairs, because the weak will always require scapegoats, and powerful people serve this role when they fall out of favor.
more nonsense.
So, who wins from the execution? From any execution? The state, of course.
Self-proclaimed arbiter of life and death. More power to it. That’s not a positive outcome.
even more nonsense. I sense a theme here.
Stick that in your cud and chew it.
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Nice job handling such a foolish argument.
However, I just figured that he was a troll and should be ignored.