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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 Fluke 8/7/84; site fluke.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!fluke!moriarty
From: moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.politics
Subject: Bastille mentality alive and well in USA
Message-ID: <3@vax2.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Nov-84 21:14:36 EST
Article-I.D.: vax2.3
Posted: Mon Nov  5 21:14:36 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 8-Nov-84 01:27:17 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Everett, WA
Lines: 34

Well, folks, I can understand people waiting outside a prison where a man or
woman is about to be executed and holding a vigil because they object to
capital punishment.

I can also understand people who would stand outside the same prison, also
holding vigil, to show their support of capital punishment (equal time &
all).

But the behaviour of a mob outside of the place where a man was executed in
North Carolina (I think -- I was just catching the end of the news -- please
correct me if I'm wrong about the location) makes me wonder about the state
of the state.  People were cheering and celebrating the criminals execution,
chanting, and, in general, acting like it was homecoming.  One woman even
held a giant paper-mache hyperdermic needle aloft (used to represent the
method of execution) like some kind of team penant.

Look, I understand the arguments for both sides of the capital punishment
issue.  But actions like this would be, I think, repugnant to anyone, no
matter what their position.  I could understand acceptance or even
satisfaction that the deed had been done -- but celebration?  Gosh, I bet
these people would have LOVED the French Revolution or the gladiators!  Bet
they can't wait for the next war!  Whoops,on second thought, probably not;
they won't have spectator status.

				What seperates the men from the apes?
				The bars on the cage...

					Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
					John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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