Be Serious, Okay?

Friday, January 20, 2006

Death Penalty MCQ

Spotted at www.commentarysingapore.blogspot.com.

This guy is a genius.
(Edit: I am not the only one who thinks that Mr Wang is brilliant. Check out what his other readers say about him and his blog)

Mr Wang Says So said...
And really, there aren't "10 billion" versions of views on the matter. If you really boil it down - I remember seeing a rather neat essay on this - the issue just comes down to six or seven main arguments, and you can take either side of it. You could break it down into a flowchart and fit it on one page. Here, let me try to show you:

Argument 1

A. "Capital punishment is against human rights. In fact it's against the most basic human right of all."

B. "My government doesn't believe in human rights."

Argument 2

A. "Capital punishment is an effective deterrent and reduces crime."

B. "Studies do not show capital punishment to be an effective deterrent. And there are many other possible ways to reduce crime" or ... "Human life is too precious" or ... "There are many equally effective methods of deterrence."

Argument 3

A. "God doesn't like capital punishment."

B. "My government is bigger than your God / I don't believe in God."

Argument 4

A. "Capital punishment is cheap, you don't have to feed the guy for years and years."

B. "You shouldn't kill people just because it costs money to keep them alive."

Argument 5

A. "This man intentionally killed someone. He deserves death."

B. "Two wrongs don't make a right" or "Revenge? Oh, you're so ... primitive."

Argument 6

A. "Let's kill him, for the sake of the victim's family."

B. "How on earth does killing him help the victim's family?"

Argument 7

A. "What if you hang the wrong person? The death penalty is irreversible."

B. "Oh, our legal system is very good. It won't happen."

~~~~~~~~~~~That's all there is, really.