Rang De Basanti again..

This post follows from my earlier one, about the Amir Khan starrer, Rang De Basanti.

Well, it seems this junk movie's been nominated as India's entry to the Oscars (see this). I can only gather that the number of irrational and hypocritical people is much, much more than I previously thought.

I can just picture AB sneering on hearing this bit of news. He'll probably set his ring-tone to the irritating blare of the title track of RDB, just to piss me off.

Kill the death penalty, not people

While it has been argued by some that capital punishment should serve as a deterrent to crime, the very idea is flawed and it is my opinion that punishment by death should be abolished, world-wide.

First and foremost, the concept of capital punishment is an extension of ancient systems of justice, based on vengeance rather than justice. "An eye for an eye", or "a tooth for a tooth". Some societies even had legal systems wherein a killer's brother would be killed, had anyone complained about the murder of his or her brother. To this day, in countries which allow public viewing of executions (in some cases only relatives of the victims of the crime are allowed to watch), a public spectacle gets made about revenge being achieved, rather than justice being done. Such an attitude is clearly not acceptable in modern society, where the emphasis should be on avoiding crimes being committed.

Secondly, two wrongs certainly do not make a right. If the crime that is said to warrant the death penalty was that bad, then the act of killing the criminal also amounts to crime on the part of the state in particular, the larger society in general.

Further, being put to death may not necessarily be the best possible way of punishing someone. It may in fact be a means of escaping from a world of incarceration and solitude. The criminal would not even have got the opportunity to repent and regret his or her crime. Besides, in times of violent conflicts and terrorism, the execution of convicted criminals, especially those involved in a political cause, could make martyrs of the executed criminals or create further disgruntlement and conflict.

Another point is that the death penalty has hardly served its intended purpose as a deterrent against crime. Some criminals such as terrorists do not mind dying in the process of committing the crime or being executed. Violent crime is a problem that continues to blight a lot of countries, which have capital punishment.

Hence, given the state of affairs, it would be better not to have capital punishment at all. Instead, everybody, all over the world, must work towards creating a society in which the respect for life, is deep rooted in everyone's psyche.