
Originally Posted by
Simon F.
Several kinds of people, but only one effect, known as the "bystander effect". It is difficult to imagine when not in that kind of situation, but the vast majority of times, a crowd (regardless of how heroic their intentions) will not get involved, and the larger the crowd the less likely. There are a variety of reasons, of course, from concern about personal safety, to assuming that someone else is calling the police so it's not necessary for them to do so... People have been ***** and killed in broad daylight.
I'm not happy that Saddam was hung, but I can see why he was, and not necessarily because of his warcrimes, nor because of the fued between him and the Bush family. His execution was meant, I believe, to serve as a deterrant to insurgents and other leaders in the Middle East (such as the President of Iran), telling them, in essence, don't mess with the U.S. (ooh it rhymed). In my eyes, the death sentence serves no other purpose beyond a deterrant for anyone likeminded in anyway, anyone contemplating a similar act as the one the executed was sentenced for.
When Hitler saw that the war was turning against him, he committed suicide, and thus died as a hero in the eyes of those who still supported him. This was actually a cleverer move than trying to continue running away and escaping custody insofar as his lasting image. We can remember Saddam as a war criminal who we tracked down and executed and thus justice was achieved, but it's not the same with Hitler. We still remember him as an absolutely cruel and horrible man who killed millions for the sake of his ideology, and we can say we won the war, but we can't that we actually got Hitler and sentenced him and got justice. No "justice", no deterrant. Now I sound like I'm stating facts, but don't get me wrong, this is more of an opinion, and not to drive this topic terribly off but I was wondering what others thought.