20-odd years ago, when Timothy McVeigh was executed, The Nation magazine ran an impassioned editorial denouncing the idea of televising the execution. I recall reading it with puzzlement that there was no opinion on the execution itself, pro or con, only on the idea of a public snuff film. - ThreadSky

jwmason.bsky.social • 2 days ago

20-odd years ago, when Timothy McVeigh was executed, The Nation magazine ran an impassioned editorial denouncing the idea of televising the execution. I recall reading it with puzzlement that there was no opinion on the execution itself, pro or con, only on the idea of a public snuff film.

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jwmason.bsky.social•2 days ago

I feel puzzled in a similar way by responses to the notorious White House "ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight” post. Yes, it's grotesque. But for those on the flight, the real harm is being forcibly removed from the country simply because of how they entered it. Not being posted about.

jwmason.bsky.social•2 days ago

The idea that being a human being living in the United States does not, in itself, convey any political rights, that someone classified as "illegal" can be forcibly exiled simply for the crime of being here, at gunpoint if necessary - this is longstanding bipartisan consensus.

jwmason.bsky.social•2 days ago

What's happening to the people on the flights the White House posted so gleefully about is no different from what happened to the hundreds of thousands of people deported each year under administrations of both parties.

jwmason.bsky.social•2 days ago

If we object to the fact that the coercive power of the state is used to take people living peacefully in the United States and force them into situations of desperation and violence, then we object to the longstanding status quo of US immigration policy, not to Trump specifically.

jwmason.bsky.social•2 days ago

If you applauded Biden for "closing the border," what is your objection to the Trump post? Do you think the border patrol is not armed? Do you think that the migrants they apprehend weren't restrained? Do you think those people weren't terrified of the situations they were being sent back to?

jwmason.bsky.social•2 days ago

When we see people publicly cheering for cruelty and violence, we are rightly appalled. But we should think carefully about what we're upset about. Is it the cruelty itself? Or is it just that it is no longer being discretely kept out of sight?

spaghettibeaver.bsky.social•2 days ago

You think there was no difference between what was happening 3 months ago, and shipping Afghan kids to a tent camp in Panama? Guantanamo? Cancelled TPS?

kelsig.bsky.social•2 days ago

We can see in front of our very eyes how important it is to not aestheticize anything that brings people pain. A republic may come to awful, cruel decisions, but it's important to undertake them solemnly and respectfully. How are we still having this discussion? Its not 2017 anymore.

proufos.bsky.social•2 days ago

As Custine said, “humanity is quite willing to let itself be scorned and ridiculed, but it is quite unwilling to let it be said in explicit terms that it is being scorned and ridiculed. Violated in fact, it finds refuge in mere words”

peterchristianhall.bsky.social•2 days ago

I opposed his execution on principle and because if he were still alive, he could still talk.

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