Humanist Discussion on Capital Punishment

 

 On Sunday October 11, the weekly discussion of the SL Humanist group took place, though the topic was a real-life news issue. In the United States, there had recently been a botched execution of a convicted murderer that failed and the criminal was recovering in the hospital. Plus, a soldier-turned-terrorist who committed mass murder against his comrades had recently been sentenced to death by firing squad. But what got more attention was the decision by the Secretary of War to have the execution broadcasted live. America hasn't had a public execution in almost a century, let alone having one on television or livestream.

 

With recent news about failed lethal injection executions and planned public firing squad executions, perhaps now humanists might wish to ponder what constitutes an ethical approach to capital punishment.  What do you think? 

 

The meeting took place at 2PM.  I ended up forgetting to take a picture during the event. There were a little more than a dozen people at the discussion. Seaplane Jonson:, the lady who gave the announcement, cautioned the crowd, "while we chat today, might be wise to keep your head about you." And I was handed a notecard for new attendees, suggesting new people mostly just sit and listen. And well, as the reporter, that was what I was going to do anyway.

 

There was a quick consensus about the idea of a televised execution. Everyone who spoke was against it. "There are many people who I think should die for there crimes - it is very bad to make that into a spectacle." "Especially when the US Government wants to make snuff films." "The public part is gross.  it's a throwback to the days where authoritarians wanted to scare people into submission." "I have a problem with the US promoting snuff films. How will it be monetized for a select few and normalized for pretty much anything if this proceeds?" "Public lynchings used to be a form of public entertainment until it was outlawed. To allow a public execution of a person in a wheelchair sets a standard that violence is the answer to everything." "Totally barbaric."

On the idea of capital punishment, the opinions were more mixed. The majority of the crowd of Americans and some Europeans seemed to be against the idea."Can't say i've ever been comfortable with the idea of capital punishment.  something arrogant about methodically killing somebody." "My viewpoint is that the state killing people is a violent act, and propagates a spirit of violent retribution through a society which is not wise with so many marginal personalities, especially those heavily armed and dangerous in the United States." "I tend to agree. If killing is seen as justice, then whenever someone feels like justice has not been carried out, then they can point to state-sponsored killing as justification for applying the same punishment." "There might be a bit of a Luigi in any one of us." "I think that so long as executed people are occasionally found to be innocent, we should not execute them."

 

Others were in favor. "We have pretty stringent procedures involved in death penalties - as is proper - but once the penalty is assessed it is cruel to keep a person on death row for decades and crueller to botch the execution." "Is it humane to keep people locked in cells for decades till they die?" 

 

And some expressed opinions showing mixed feelings, "I think some people should never be released.  The execution VICTIM in Tennessee for instance seems to be a consequence of ALCOHOL FETAL SYNDROME, aside from having experienced repeated rapes herself as a child.  I doubt she is safe to be with people and as I understood it, she also killed another inmate in prison." 

 

Should a woman sentenced to death get medical care to save her life? "I was struck by the fact when the execution failed heroic attempts were made to save the woman's life"  "Is it the moral thing to save someone due to die after a failed execution. They will just do it again. Why not let her die??" "She survived but was dying - she was unconscious - why not just let her die?"

 

One extreme example of mass murder, when someone machine-gunned down close to 80 kids in Norway  (which has very strict gun laws)in 2011. "If anyone deserved a death penalty, it would be him, but they gave him maximum imprisonment." "Norway doesn't have (life) sentence. The max is 35 years. At the time." "I just asked google's AI. Norway doesn't have cap. pun. or life sentencing, BUT a minimum sentence for some crimes which can then be re-evaluated and extended for another five years at a time. In principle indefinitely, so Breivik is not getting out anytime soon."

 

The difference between American and some European countries' attitudes to punishment of criminals was brought up, sometimes with a sour look at the former,  "I think if a society has capital punishments, it is reflective of their collective consciousness. And to be real, American is de-evolving, for the most part. Going backwards to a time of might and not brains, not critical thinking. I don't think you can prevent murder, even with capital punishment, when society doesn't teach one how to handle emotions, tough situations and how to have empathy." "I would just like to say  that I have this evenings conversation very disheartening and disappointing that so many called civilized still believe that capital punishment is ok as long as the rules are met." "I keep thinking there's going to be an end to how ashamed I am of this country but there seems to be no end."

 

Similar sub-topics were brought up, "Suppose you are in a jury with your opposition to. capital punishment. Somehow you are accepted because the attorney forgot to ask about your stance on the topic. Would you vote for it, according to the law, or against it based on your principles?" " In time, I think AI ROBOTS could be good replacements for human prison guards." "The fact is, that ANYTIME there is a confrontation resulting in an altercation or something like it, there is a risk that someone will die.  Sometimes homicide is a consequence of things spinning out of control.  Humans are potentially savage and dangerous." Vegetarianism was also briefly discussed. 

 

It was also asked what was the precedent of someone sentenced to death surviving their execution. I myself did an Internet search and responded the cases varied, "there were a number of instances of people sentenced to hang, and survived. Some were simply rescheduled for another execution. But others had their sentence commuted to life imprisonment. At least one commuted to life was later released from prison years later."

The debate went on to the end. "Capital punishment has been shown to have no deterrent effect." "Well - what does a society do with very bad people?"

I should note this wasn't the only discussion I've seen online related to the plans to televise the execution of the convicted terrorist. A few people on my Facebook feed brought it up, all calling it a bad idea. There was talk about it in a few Discord servers.  The host of one posted a news story about it, followed by "What the f*** ... Disgusting." And there were a few short comments in agreement. In a second, someone commented, "It is not true this would be the first public execution in a hundred years. ICE publicly executed a man and a woman." And in one community Discord thread, several people spoke out about it. The majority were in favor of the execution being livestreamed, "We have to do this. This is the only way terrorists will know their actions will get them killed." But there was one voice of dissent, "There is no argument about the penalty. But there is no need to make it into a public spectacle that makes him a matyr. Get rid of him, dispose of him like the trash he is, then let him be forgotten. Shoot, shovel, and shut up."

 

A few hours after the Humanist discussion, this community Discord would have a movie night. The movie happened to be "Demolition Man." For those who haven't heard of it, it takes place in a future society in which people have become so reluctant to use physical force, when a psychopath escapes jail they are helpless to deal with him. So they bring a 1980s cop out of hibernation to stop him. I couldn't help but think this was what many on the political right think of those opposed to the death penalty. 

 

Maybe someday, like the cop says near the end, we can "find a happy medium." 

 

To my knowledge, the Humanist discussions take place ever Sunday at 2PM SL time at ROMA (253,238,31)

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

*Addition* For my own thoughts on the matter: Click Here for my commentary on my "Food On The Table."

Aether Salson's War of 1812 Discussion

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

On Sunday Sept 20, The Aether Salon had it's discussion for the month. This time the topic was The War of 1812, which like other conflicts America took part in between the War for Independence and the Civil War tends to be overlooked by casual students of US History. The US leadership, furious over the impressment (kidnapping) of Americans by the British Navy, as well as incidents such as the unprovoked attack on the USS Chesapeake, declared war on the British Empire. But compared to the Brits, the USA had only a tiny Navy and regular Army. Attacks on Canada relied on called-up state militia that thanks to poor quality of men and officers alike ended up as disasters that left the country vulnerable to counterattack from Canadian militia and American Indian warriors allied to Britain. Fortunately for the USA, Britain would be busy with fighting Napoleon. But unfortunately the Brits could still enact a blockade. While there were a few individual victories by the US Navy in one on one battles, notably by the USS Constitution, the blockade was soon tightened and American overseas commerce strangled. 

 

Wildstar Beaumont was the speaker at the event, dressed up like a buccaneer. He remarked since this was "Talk Like A Pirate Day" weekend, he might as well touch on an issue somewhat related, the use of privateers by the badly outnumbered US Navy in the war.  He reminded the audience that he had chosen the topic months ago, and didn't count on talking about a war best known by the Canadians for it's attempted American invasions while in real life news America's President has been ratcheting up a trade war with the country. 

 

Driven by necessity to rely on privateers, the Americans found them to be a huge success. The smaller privateers could outrun the British when at a disadvantage, and engage when there was an opportunity. The result was numerous British ships sunk and captured, as well as the US Government taking in millions from duties on captured gold and other valuables, revenue it sorely needed with the blockade strangling the economy. News of naval victories also were a vital boost to American morale.

 

Also mentioned was the Battle of New Orleans, which took part in January 1815. Before the fight, the British tried to recruit smuggler and pirate Jean Lafitte to be a guide for their invasion. Instead he warned the Louisiana Governor, and offered himself and his men & weapons in exchange for pardons for him and his brother Pierre. General Jackson at first wasn't thrilled with the idea of them helping out with the defense of New Orleans, but would later laud their "courage and fidelity." The battle ended in a decisive American victory with the British taking on heavy losses. 

 

Negotiations to end the war began in mid 1814. At first the British demanded territory, seeking to create a buffer state for American Indian allies. The US Government angrily rejected it. The months went on, and a British attack in Maryland resulted in Washington DC being burned but failing to beat the forces defending Baltimore, the most famous part being the Battle of Fort McHenry which inspired the song "The Star Spangled Banner," and having to retreat. As more time passed, both sides came to realize the issues that started the conflict were no longer relevant and so they settled for status quo ante bellum - borders would remain unchanged. And the Treaty of Ghent was signed on Christmas Eve 1814. 

 

Although the war was a stalemate, the United States came out of it with a sense of pride for having successfully fought off the strongest empire in the world, especially with the news of the Battle of New Orleans coming just after news of the treaty. For the Canadians, they also came out of the conflict with a sense of pride, as well as a newfound sense of national unity, for having beaten off American invasion. As for the British, with the conflict being a side-show compared to the Napoleonic Wars, they barely remembered it happened. Indeed it's not even mentioned in many British history books. But for the American Indians, the war would prove to be the beginning of the end for those east of the Mississippi River. They would lose a great deal of land in peace treaties, and some years later entire tribes would be expelled in the Indian Removal. Not mentioned in the discussion was General Jackson finding a career in politics and eventually becoming President. Also in politics, the Federalist Party, which opposed the war, would come out of the fight badly. In the years after the war, it would fade away into irrelevance and ten years after the treaty was dead. As for the privateers, after the war some would continue in the Latin American wars for independence. 

 

The Aether Salon is hosted by Ceejay Writer. The next event should be on Sunday October 18. The transcript for the event should be up on the blog (https://aethersalon.home.blog/) soon.

 

*Addition* - The transcript is finally up: https://aethersalon.home.blog/2026/09/27/1812-with-wildstar-beaumont/  

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Walk Around the Grid: The Willows Cartoon Night

 

By Netera Landar

I don’t know about you, but I used to love watching cartoons. That meant fighting for control of the dial on the old TV that my brothers and I watched after school and on Saturday mornings. That was way before cable. We were actually one of the first families in the neighborhood that had a color TV. 

I loved Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons, and The Flintstones. So, when I learned that The Willows was hosting a Cartoon Night on Friday, July 31, I had to put on my pop-culture cartoon dress and TP over there.

It was no surprise when I reached the landing point and found a giant Fred Flintstone with the biggest smile on his face. He was standing next to his human-powered stone-and-wood car. Inside the venue, everyone was having a great time dancing to DJ Sylvie Zaftig’s tunes. 

On the dance floor were Shaggy Rogers and Velma Dinkley from the lovable mystery-solving gang; Maui from the cartoon movie “Moana”; Mario from the “Super Mario” movies; Flintstone characters: Pebbles, Fred, and Wilma; the Pink Panther, Strawberry Shortcake; and other interesting characters.
 

 

Maui from "Moana" and Suri Rochelle Cassady.

 

Willows DJ Sylvie Zaftig.

 

Mario: Dylan, and Alesandra.

 

Pebbles and Fred - Faleen and Steverino.

 

Pink Panther – Pk Bluemoon, Strawberry Shortcake – Kylie, and Wilma – Star.

 

From Scooby-Doo - Velma and Shaggy - Bobbi Sable and Brent Sable. 

 

From The Flintstones - Riley and Spence. 

 

Yep, that's me with Fred Flintstone. 

 

Aodhan and Brian. 

 

It was a blast. Until next time, "stay tooned."

 

Netera Landar 

 

Discussion on Tactics At Aether Salon

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

This is one of my "better late than never" articles that temporarily got lost in the reporting about the SL23B and then Rita Mariner's passing. 

Besides being the last day of the Second Life Birthday, Sunday July 19 was also the day of July's Aether Salon discussion. 

Today at 2PM SLT: The Aether Salon presents TACTICS! with one of the founding Salonistas, Jedburgh Dagger. Sneak in unnoticed, steal a seat and brace yourself for further instructions.   

One of the central points of the discussion by Jedburgh Dagger of tactics was what face a commander on the field: "the three 'Cs,'" Command, Control, and Communications."Command, go there. Control, stay together. Communications, tell them to go there too." And in ancient times with no radio, communications wasn't easy, relying on visual signals, horns, and messengers which took time to reach where they were going and vulnerable to being killed. 

 

 

Jedburgh noted that tactics pretty much stayed the same for millennia. Even when firearms first appeared in European battles in 1419, they weren't a significant change at first, until "in 1525 the first battle that was pivotally decided by firearms was fought in Italy. Battle of Pavia, when the cavalry found out that you can't run pell mell at a block of musketeers. But even so, guns ended up not changing the formations a great deal."

Real change would have to wait until King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, "known as the first modern general, and the man who started the widespread use of 'combined arms'.What he did was use cavalry, artillery, and infantry together, each using their strengths to offset the weaknesses of the other."  

Still, the practice of men in lines marching in formation toward each other continued, even in the early and mid 19th Century that saw developments in firearms and ammunition that made rifles more accurate and quicker to reload. But then came Maxim and his machine gun, "it took Maxim's gun to provide huge amounts of fire that ended the large unit use of line formations, and also killed colored uniforms for that matter." But line formations didn't go away entirely, "even today, the riot squad and the infantry squaddie still do the same thing their Greek ancestors did."

 

There were some amusing moments with the occasional joking remark, such as someone responding to the comment "the same thing their Greek ancestors did" with Tepic Harlequin going "drink too much and fight the locals?" He would also man the machine gun on display. There were also fireworks unleashed at one point. 

 

Ceejay Writer, who organizes Salon events, would say, "we do not have a speaker for next month, but we do for the rest of the year," and invited people to sign up to be one.  

 

The Aether Salon discussions are announced in the New Babbage group inworld, and on it's Discord. They take place at Babbage Canals (195/63/105).

 

To read the group blog, including this week's transcript, Click Here: https://aethersalon.home.blog/

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

 

Walk Around The Grid: Pet Pharmacy's Sixth Anniversary

 

By Netera Landar 

 

Anniversaries at Pet’s Pharmacy are always well-attended events. 

 

The proof is a step away when you enter the art deco venue and take a long look at the dance floor. Everyone is dancing to popular swing songs in their flapper dresses and suits.

 

The venue’s sixth anniversary on Saturday, July 25 featured both DJ Loren and DJ Suzie Cummings on stage, 

 

with 65 people dancing for hours.

 

 

You had to adjust your camera above and look down to see who attended. 

 

Pet said the venue was on loan. It was beautiful. 

 

 

 

 

To read more about Pet's Pharmacy, Click Here to read the article from November.

 

 Netera Landar

 

Events 

Wedding Bells

 

 

 

On Friday June 26 came a special occasion: The wedding of Lilybeth Patterson (LilyBethPatterson) and Ardo Topaz.

 

You are all cordially invited to attend the wedding as we are excited to see you all there.  Please see the attached program ... 

 

The happy event occurred at WolfTail Inn, near Club Balance, with Maliit Uzz-Shirki (MaliitCoyote) and Bellslayer presiding. 

 

The event was attended by numerous friends, including some from the Sunweaver/Angels community. 

 

Following the event was a reception with much dancing, 

 

 

And the tossing of the bouquet by the bride. .The fun went on for a few hours, with DJ Frost, DJ Erika, and DJ Squeaks playing the music. 

 

Congratulations to you both,

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

RFL Sunbeamer Carnival

 

 By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 On Saturday May 23, The Relay for Life's Sunbeamer team would hold it's Carnival event. Taking place in Sunlight Bay, there were a number of activities.

 

 There were rides such as the "Tornado."

 

 There were Shockwave's Bumper cars, with an added challenge this time. There was a hand cannon giver that a co-rider could shoot. 

 

 Take too many hits, your car would turn into a barbecue.

 

 There was a small roller coaster.

 

 There was the Bicycle Blimp Challenge, which was a race against the clock. 

 

And many others such as getting launched into the air from a cannon ...

 

 Bouncing off a target

 

 And then plummeting down, hopefully with a parachute from the giver next to the cannon (or an older one from previous years).

 

 But the main attraction was the music. DJ Cynthia would start things off at 9AM SL time.

 

 The dancing to her tunes, which included some videogaming songs from the 80s, and a number of jokes in response, went on to 11.

 

 After an hour break to enjoy the games and maybe visit the restroom, at Noon, DJ Primi Giles-Harding-Ronin, representing Team ACTS, got up on stage.

 

 And more people dropped by, including Wildstar Beaumont, who has some pictures of the Fantasy Faire on his Flickr. 

 

 At 3PM SL time was DJ Kayla and the Roos, who this time arrived via Cynthia Farshore's balloon.

 

 The Roos dancing as Kayla spun her tunes.

 

 Including a Bowie song, which had an effect on one Roo.

 

 The event would raise tens of thousands of Linden dollars for the three teams. The Sunbeamers themselves are as of the writing of this article a little over 1,215,500 Lindens, not far from Ruby level. 

 

Go ACTS, Go Roos, Go Sunbeamers, Go Relay!

 

Bixyl Shuftan