My younger years were saturated in Americana via movies and TV. It was all an illusion of course, but in my mind America was very much the land of great expanses filled with exciting people. The kind of people who could be relied upon to do the right thing. The land which produced the Greatest Generation who stormed Omaha Beach. I still have a soft spot for America.
So it pains me greatly to witness the descent of the nation into something so polarised and ugly. I’m not going to discuss who is to blame for the decline and fall because most people already know. I want to focus on two examples of national dysfunction resulting in a descent into barbarity.
THE ATTEMPTED EXECUTION OF CHRISTA PIKE
Numerous studies have proven beyond doubt that capital punishment does nothing to deter crime. So any nation which still conducts executions is doing so purely as an act of vengeance. Christa Pike committed a terrible crime when she was 18 years old. She was sentenced to death and has been on death row for more than 30 years. At 50 years old she was injected with a supposedly lethal dose of pentobarbital. This failed to kill her. So they injected her again. She survived. So the state then sent her to hospital for treatment because she couldn’t possibly be allowed to die of other causes. It has yet to be determined if the attempt on her life has left her with permanent injuries. The whole episode was a grotesque display of ineptitude resulting in unnecessary cruelty.
THE PROPOSED PUBLIC EXECUTION OF NIDAL HASAN
Nidal Hasan murdered 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. So it was always likely that he would be executed. However this is the era of Secretary of War Hegseth. A psychiatrist would have a field day analysing Hegseth. Mere lethal injection in a private room will not suffice for Hegseth who has recommended a much more theatrical execution by firing squad. At the time of writing this piece, he has just revealed that he wants the execution to be livestreamed for the viewing pleasure of all fellow psychos. What the actual f***?
Trump has spoken of “shithole countries”. He needs to look in the mirror. From the viewpoint of those of us elsewhere, America is abandoning the norms of civilised countries.
Slogger is a North Antrim retiree and latecomer to political discourse.
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