Saddam's Execution.

Zero interest to me. Not a huge fan of watching people die.

Ummm..ew?

I'd check it out.

Always had a morbid fascination about those types of videos.... I still check out Ogrish and Rotten every once in a while.

Have to see it just to see it. Work in the media and everyone is going to have to watch it - its going to be talked about for years....

Wont be getting any particular pleasure from it though.

I won't watch it. Even if the man is total scum, executions should not be broadcast as though they were entertainment. What kind of depraved jackass would watch that?

I have no interest in watching such a thing. I'm sure plenty of others will though. I'm not on any moral high ground but look at all the people who felt the need to watch videos of hostages beheaded. I'm sure it's shocking and disgusting, I can know that stuff like that exists without having to view it.

Just to clarify, I feel the same way. I can understand why some people are interested in and seek out that sort of thing; it's just not for me.

Had to watch a beheading for work purposes again - yes its completely horrible, terrifying, distressing and upsetting, probably a lot worse than you could imagine.

As I said, some of us have to watch this. But the point about why theyre showing it is a valid one. It is being shown as entertainment and I wont be surprised if anyone sees any sort of poster or billboard for it.

Its the fact that its not an execution so much as a 'TV pick' should have the world worried of what the US is capable of. The war on terror equalling 'whichever side is the most violent, ruthless and cruel - yet proud of it' is not the message that young Americans, or anyone in the world should be listening to.

Its a complete circus and that is why even those among you who say you dont want to and most likely will try not to - I dont think there is going to be much chance of it, Im afraid. Everyone around the world will see it - itll be available for kids to watch for christs sake! There are believably
some parents in Assfuck, Fucksville USA that will damn near force their young ones to watch it - think of that and you realise the type its being broadcast for.

For some, this event will affect their political stance for the rest of their lives.

In a perfect world - it would not be broadcast. But a lot of things wouldnt happen in a perfect world.

I'd take a peek, sure.

Not for me but to each their own (meaning: no moral high ground taken here)

There's no way Saddam's execution will be broadcast. Networks would be open to too much criticism. A video on the net though, I guess that might be a possibility. But I sure as hell wouldn't watch it.

No. I understand how stupid this will sound, but I've come to feel sorry for him. After the trial I've been left with an impression of Saddam as a pathetic old man, capable of nothing any more, not even a coherent defense. A world apart from the ruthless, genocidal dictator I logically know he is.

Cheap and lameass joke time:

Q: What did Saddam say when he was sentenced to hang?

A: Oh SNAP!


And I'm outta here.

Is it really a "moral high ground" to say that maybe it isn't a good idea, maybe it's kind of depraved for people to want to see Saddam get executed? With the journalism/media angle, that's different because it's a professional thing, but other than that I can't really fathom many legitimate reasons for wanting to see this. Especially among non-Iraqis. Americans aren't really in touch with the damage that Saddam did there on any emotional level, so what is there to get from it?

I could watch it. As chris rock said, "Wasn't that kind of like the Coyote catching the Roadrunner?"

There's always the chance that he'll engineer a way to have one of his clones visit the gallows in his place.

My curiosity would probably get the best of me. I don't enjoy such images, but I'm not sure why watching them makes you depraved.

Because you're watching another man die before your eyes, ostensibly for no reason other than personal satisfaction.

Well apparently Alex and I are the only ones willing to fully admit that we are a "depraved jackass".

I wouldn't watch out of any self-important sense of retribution. I'd watch because I happen to like watching people die.

And I know being a disturbed sociopath will lead me to a sorry fate...and yet...I blame society. Society made me what I am. (nothing better than getting a chance to paraphrase "Repo Man" now and then)

Just to getthe ole US of A opinion from Chudders -

what percentage of people that you know will watch this?

what percentage of the population do you think will?

What age range do you think will see it?

What will you think of while you watch it?

Do you think George Bush will crack a smile?

I watched a beheading on the web recently. And I hate myself for it.

I've never seen anyone die before. So curiosity got the best of me and I watched the damn thing and I wish I hadn't. It was disgusting, and demeaning, and titillating, and shameful. The way that that the victim sat demurely before his execution and then started a high-pitched (and for a few seconds unrecognizable) squeal just before it, the utter callousness the thugs went about it (pinning his legs and arms, knee on the back, hands roughly pushing his head back), the victim's gurgling as his attackers fumbled his death over long seconds, and finally the mechanical sawing and wrenching as the head finally came off sickens and haunts me.

I hate the people who did it, the people who videotaped it, and the people who created the means for videos like that to circulate. And myself for ping-ponging between excitement before the killing, to shock, to disgust, to shame for not feeling disgusted enough, then back to being buzzed over the surrealness of what I just witnessed. It was like watching a pig getting slaughtered. And I feel sad and depressed that watching the movie would make me think of someone's death in those terms.

So the short answer is no, I would not watch Saddam's execution.

Reading this thread, I get the impression that some people are expecting the execution to make it onto TV. What is this based on? Net circulation seems inevitable, but I can't see CNN or ABC airing a hanging at 6 o'clock.

Of course, there's always Fox...

Well, we plastered video of him getting checked for lice while we patted ourselves on the back for catching him, so I don't put much past what this administration would release to the press. And Fox News would run this in a heartbeat.

Bingo.

Yes, but was it a titillating lice check?

How does a lice check equate to an execution? Sure, it's embarassing and invasive, but that doesn't mean that the censors that flipped out over an aging nipple not too long ago are going allow Faces of Death to play on the evening news.

I'd like to say I don't like watching people die, but I've got such a fascination with it- the stupid ways people go, the looks in their faces as everything ends. It's a way of dealing with my fear of death, I think. Maybe I'm looking for some deeper meaning behind it all.

Much like Ali Mohamed, the first time I watched one of those real videos it shocked the hell out of me. I actually got woozy and started feeling faint- it was a video of a Russian soldier getting his throat cut. It haunted me for months. But then I went around finding all the "classic" death videos- the Faces of Deaths, the Bud Dwyer videos, all of that. It's not something that I'm constantly watching, but once in a while I'll go to Ogrish and check out the latest sick shit that's happened.

Shit, I can't have been the only one that was watching 9/11 videos nonstop right afterwards- looking for new angles and views of the carnage. It was just something I needed to see.

So yeah, I won't go searching for the Hussein video if it appears online or somewhere, but if I find it I'll definitely check it out.

Meh. I've got better things to do than to watch him die. Porn to download, www.addictinggames.com , and what not.

I've never seen of the "death" videos that circulate online, but always assumed I could stomach it if I did. But about four months ago, I happened to be the first person to arrive at the scene of a late night car accident and found the passenger of the car with his head crushed in and blood everywhere. The driver was alive (albeit cut the hell up) and screaming in pain (I can only assume it just happened) but passed out before the cops arrived. So here I am calling 911, talking to the driver trying to get him to calm down, with no one on the road but me and him.

Turns out a couple of young guys were out partying and just got too drunk and swerved into a median. The driver lived, and the passenger was obviously dead. To this day, I can still hear that guy screaming. His buddies face is always fresh in my memory and it really made me quite fearful of death and the realization that at ANY MOMENT life can be over. Needless to say, it really screwed me up for a while.

Long story over... there is no way I can watch someone die anymore. I mean I could stomach it (not get sick or anything), but it always plays on my mind about my own mortality, so I try to avoid it as much as possible.

That was the first of these Faces of Death type videos I ever saw too. One of my friends showed it to me and it stayed with me for a couple of days. I had nightmares about it.

The real question, I feel, is who, in the event that video of Saddam's execution becomes available, will be first to use a .gif of his neck snapping as their avatar?

If you're defining satasfaction to include morbid curiosity, I don't buy that the act makes you a "depraved" individual. In fact, I think people in such a sanitized country like ours have some responsibility to witness death (to some extent). I think it paints a more complete picture of life and the world we live in.

Furthermore, to talk about images of death and violence as if only the sick and depraved are attracted to them is, I think, a misguided attempt to portray humans as something nobler than they actually are.

To no extent do people have a responsibility to witness death. There is a basic responsibility to be aware of its presence and importance and how certain actions may lead to it, but no one to any extent whatsoever has an obligation to see the death of another human.

And curiosity about another person's hanging, shooting, stabbing, etc., still falls under the heading of "depraved." What do you expect to happen? A guy is gonna get killed. Where does the curiosity come from? Think he's gonna get raptured into heaven? No, no, it's the spectacle of the thing, hence it still falls under depravity.

P.S. If you're gonna try to argue in favor of watching a guy get offed, you've got a hell of a debate on your hands.

In no way am I arguing that people should watch Saddam hang. I just don't think doing so is something to be looked down on in the way that some here are portraying it.

But to get back to your first point, I don't think you can really be "aware" of death without seeing death first hand. There's definately a strong emotional component to actually seeing death, and when you live in a country that likes to fight wars while ignoring the brutal reality that is war, then hell-fucking-yes people have a responsability to see the horror of death and violence.

The motivation of watching such a thing is what is morally reprehensible. If someone is watching it to get the sick voyeuristic thrill of violence without having to be involved, then that should be looked down on. If you can contradict that, give it a shot.

However, that the US gets into wars doesn't obligate its citizens to watch death. It does obligate our leaders to understand the gravity of death, but how does it make it necessary for everyone to see killings and corpses firsthand? And anyone with imagination, anyone who has had someone close die, can understand death well enough without actually physically seeing someone die.

And I don't think you can really qualify the statement that this country totally ignores the brutal reality of war. On the news yesterday there was a story that the morgues in Iraq are at capacity. There are some awful images and stories in newspapers/shows about the insurgent violence. That's not really ignoring the brutal reality, it's that we're becoming apathetic.

That's a point I've never thought of before. I have no interest in seeing this or the death of anyone, especially after coming so close to seeing it right in front of me with people I care a great deal about. But that's a weird line to cross with publicly showing executions. Half of me says we need the American people to see what is being done in their name overseas, and the other half of me says we would be no better than the gloating English bastards at the end of Braveheart. It would depend on how the American people react to such images, but naturally that can't be known until after they're shown.

"If someone is watching it to get the sick voyeuristic thrill of violence without having to be involved, then that should be looked down on."

I don't think anyone here is saying they want that. No one's going "Yeah! Can't wait to see his neck snap and his tongue hang out!" It's not a voyeuristic thing at all. I can understand that some people don't have the stomach to view death, and wouldn't want to put it in their head in the first place, but I don't believe that people would not be interested. Everyone's interested in death.

Okay, everyone's interested in death I admit, what is it like, what comes afterward, etc. But what can be derived from watching another man be killed? What insight will one have gained from that to satisfy their interest? And, if an execution of Saddam were televised (which it won't be), you know some people would be gung ho about it. They're not on this board, but they are out there.

My point, though, is that it isn't a "moral high ground" to say it's wrong to want to watch an execution. That's gotta be about the moral sea level.

I think seeing death, the impersonality of it, is humbling. It's scary and disturbing, and powerful in a way that no other image can be. That's why people, normal people anyway, peek at death.

I believe I figured out this "quote" thing. I would like to address this bit specifically.

The people of this country are the leaders of America, that much was proven in the mid-term elections. Our elected representatives are most definitely obligated to expose themselves to the serious nature of death and the destruction of life, certainly. It comes with the territory.
However, I personally believe that, as a citizen and an active voter, I am also responsible to expose myself to that same experience in order to better understand the influence that sways my representatives' choices in government. To simply dismiss out of hand something of the magnitude as an execution, expecially one of such a high level figure, is, in my opinion, shunning my responsibility to myself as a citizen of the very country that initiated the process that is resulting in that figure's execution.

This entire country went to war, not just our politicians, that's what representation is about. We started this, and in order to avoid making decisions like this in the future, I believe we are responsible for seeing this war, and all its horrors, to the end.

That includes Saddam Hussein's execution.

"You hang a man ...

You better look at him."

--Marshal Jed Cooper

Sorry, but this is a bullshit justification. Watching a decrepit old goat of a dictator swing doesn't say anything about the horrors of war. If anything it would glorify it to most people. You want to illustrate brutality, let's look at the tapes of civilians being firebombed, of American soldiers being shipped home with holes in their heads, of morgues overflowing with fresh bodies.

And who would watch Faces of Death?

I have a friend who kind of came from a warped family. While I was watching Sesame Street, he was watching A Nightmare on Elm Street. His stepfather bought him condoms at 12 and took him to strip clubs and bought us beer at 14. I always thought: this family is fucked up.

I never knew how fucked up until we were about 16 and I'm in his room. He puts on Faces of Death. I don't want to watch this...it seems wrong and horrible to watch this sort of thing. He finds it entertaining.

Well the final scene is this young woman trying to run across the train tracks and she is struck by the train at full speed. She skips across towards the camera, you can see skin and teeth and blood exploding. I'm horrified.

He thinks its the funniest thing ever. He's laughing HYSTERICALLY. He rewinds it. Again. Again. Again. He puts it in slow motion. He can't stop laughing. He calls his whole family in: his mother, stepfather, and brother who is about 9 or 10. They all laugh. They think its the funniest thing ever.

I'm not really making a moral judgement here. All I'm saying is, watching actual death unfold on screen for entertainment is mortifying to me. I won't be watching.

Agree. There's 655,000 dead people over there, thanks to the American public. A steady diet of these victims put on the network news would be the best way to sober up America's cartoonish fascination with war.

I don't think the word 'entertainment' is apt (at least for 99% of people on these boards).

...and it should be mortifying (hence the word).

I doubt he'll swing, anyway.

Me too, actually.

Thanks for saving me the typing. 'Bullshit' was actually the first word that came into my head when I read Java's previous post.

After really going over what I said, and the first response to it, I've changed my mind.

The execution won't solve anything. I do agree with the statement that showing America the deaths of the rest of the victims of the "War on Terror" would be a better idea.

I have a question, though: Why do some of you think that it won't happen?