It is disingenuous for a society to say that we, as a collective, value life and abhor murder and then practice the opposite.
Well said. I've always been an advocate of teaching by example*. If a government demonstrates that it's perfectly acceptable to kill or execute someone for what they have (or have not done in some cases) done, then how can you then portray murder as being wrong?
In the UK there were cases of innocent people being hung. I guess that makes the executioner a murderer, so should he have been hung too? Where does it end?
I feel the same way about war. How can you expect countries that treat their population badly, or invade other countries, to act in a civilised way when the response to the problem is to drop cluster bombs on innocent women and children?
Violence breeds more violence, whether it's by individuals or by a government.
I'm all hot and flustered now so I'll just leave it there.
* it's true, ask anyone.
