Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/03/24/louisiana-reintroduces-the-electric-chair-adds-nitrogen-hypoxia-to-execution-methods.html
…
6 Likes
“Central to the concept of a capitalist economy is the freedom to choose a product from among various competitors’ offerings.” 
9 Likes
Cruelty; it’s the point. 
15 Likes
Edit: deleted the content, but not the post because @Mindysan33 makes good points and I don’t want to lose that.
8 Likes
Not just that, no. Yes, some religious people are real assholes (and some of those are also fascists). But plenty of religious people are not assholes, are actively anti-fascists, and are being attacked for their attempts to actually do good in the world by these same assholes. The problem here is more of a conservative, authoritarian mindset that uses religion (and capitalism, and racism, misogyny, homophobia, antisemitism, islamophobia, transphobia, etc) to oppress others and justify their bullshit.
17 Likes
From what I can tell religion is a multiplier on whatever you wanted anyway. Good kind people take it as a reason to stand up for being good and kind. Selfish sadists treat it as an imperative to be selfish and sadistic. Just about any important ethical question in history, religion was on both sides.
Right now the important question is still “treating other people with humanity – yes or no?” 
17 Likes
Yeah, that… anyone who wishes to oppress others, they’re the problem. Anyone who wants to help others and create a better world, those are our allies.
11 Likes
The Catholic church is one of the biggest, oldest patriarchal religious organizations on earth, and the church has officially been opposed to the death penalty for decades now. Plenty of individuals who self-identify as Catholics still vehemently support the barbaric practice though. It’s definitely not just about religion.
15 Likes
I’d think that if being anti-killing was so important in the Christian religion it would be codified in rules somewhere, maybe even in the top 10.
24 Likes
Politicians. They benefit politicians. That’s all there is to it: human sacrifice for votes.
9 Likes
Yes. Religion by itself is rarely the motivation, but rather it’s how it is used as a crutch by authoritarians to justify their cruelties.
2 Likes
You know what? You’re right, and I’m the asshole right now. @chenille said it much better, religion is a multiplier and a justification.
I can do better. Deleting the post now.
6 Likes
No, I don’t think you are… I get why some people want to just blame religion, as it has been used for bad ends. Plenty of people grew up in households where religion was used in awful ways, so I can understand the reaction.
I just believe that making a blanket statement lets the bad faith fundies win. It’s like saying “they are right that religion is ONLY about oppression and abuse.” It’s also ahistorical, and you all know how I hate that!
9 Likes
If they want FAST and calm deaths, how about a nice big OD of fentanyl?
1 Like
Well, technically …
2 Likes
Most notably, Smith saw no need for government involvement in an economy, leaving him as the most notable of the laissez-faire economists.2
Uh, pretty sure that’s incorrect. He was laissez-faire for his day, but that’s radically reactionary different these days. Also, he thought the obscenely rich should be slapped into line by the government if need be.
Checking the ref:
The Adam Smith Institute. “The Wealth of Nations.”
Eamonn Butler’s Condensed Wealth of Nations is available to download here.
Right, an institute founded by Antony Fisher., with Shell and Koch money. The Oil Lords, successors of the Tobacco Lords that Smith frequently railed against, have their own Butlerized version of Smith. I bet I can guess which parts were “condensed” out.
I won’t say that they’re No True Capitalists; Smith, after all, didn’t invent capitalism, just described how he thought it should work, but they certainly don’t follow Adam Smith. More word fuckery from far right oligarchs.
7 Likes
We’ve done pretty well avoiding the usual discussion on the best way to kill a person, let’s please not start now. The single correct answer to the right way to perform an execution is to not – sufficiently so that it doesn’t really matter how clever people are with ideas for second place.
12 Likes
Man, of all states that I don’t trust with administering the death penalty, Louisiana has to be high on that list.
1 Like
Given the other post today about Louisiana gun legislation, you’d start to think they’re into killing people or something…
5 Likes
Louisiana really is on a roll.
There is just not a gif to express how angry this makes me and how very weary I feel
3 Likes
