Ripping someone's head off with a rope is much more civilized...

[Tesha]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/16464906.htm

> After the trap doors opened, al-Bandar could be seen
> dangling from the rope. Ibrahim's body was lying
> on the floor, chest down, his severed head resting
> several yards away.


Ripping someone's head off with a rope is much
more civilized than decapitating them.

Or so we're supposed to believe this morning, as
the news reveals that the hangman in Iraq made a
little "Ooopsie!" and managed to rip off the head
of one of the two men just executed in Iraq.

But at least we're not one of those uncivilized
countries that executes by swift, clean decapitation.

Tesha

[wtmusic]

1. It happens unpredictably

and depends on the height of the fall. The goal is to snap the neck, yet avoid decapitation. But if the fall is too short, the victim suffers an agonizing death which can last for minutes as he/she chokes to death.

[NNN0LHI]

2. Well that explains that. It was just an accident

I feel a lot better now.

Don

[wtmusic]

3. All things considered

it is probably more humane than choking to death. If I was the condemned I'd prefer my head fully separated.

[NNN0LHI]

6. Oh, yes. Very humane

:crazy:

[TomInTib]

12. What would you prefer?

Taking into account that execution was a given (all arguments aside), I would prefer to have my head snapped off over almost any other death-delivering device (except death by jealous husband - if caught en flagrante).

[NNN0LHI]

15. Firing squad with no Barney Fifes involved n/t

[Tesha]

4. I think you missed my point.

Thanks, but I knew all that, and I think you missed
my point.

Tesha

[wtmusic]

7. I did

There's nothing more civilized about leaving them hanging than pulling their head off.

[TomInTib]

13. I am with you on this

Having seen death delivered in all manner and form, I can assure you that Dead is Dead.

I would pick decapitation over strangulation, any day.

[Tesha]

18. Okay, my point...

Okay, my point was that we made a lot of political
hay over the fact that the "bad guys" decapitated
people and therefore must be primitive animals.

I wonder if we will still draw the same conclusions
now that we're doing the decapitating.

(And some of us think that *ANY FORM* of capital
punishment is barbaric.)

Tesha

[TomInTib]

20. Pardon me

I am a tad slow on the uptake.

I getcha, Tesha

[Tesha]

25. Thanks! (NT)

[lectrobyte]

8. Unpredictably? No, it happens because they didn't calculate the

drop properly for the weight of the person. I think this knowledge, gruesome as it is, has been figured out for a while.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. It makes one wonder why we consider ourselves at the top of the evolutionary scale.

[htuttle]

10. To quote Ashley J. "Ash" Williams from Army of Darkness:

"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun."

[Lost4words]

9. I'll bet they used a piano wire to do the job. New Boss worse than the old boss

[spoony]

11. "swift, clean decapitation"

I have never heard of such a thing.

[lisby]

14. And there's some evidence to suggest that a person can remain conscious

for up to about 10 seconds after being decapitated...

Not saying he was conscious and I pray he wasn't, but I can image how fun that death potentially could have been.



Lisby

[spoony]

22. Yes, anything to do with decapitation

is grotesque and should horrify any normal person. I guess that was my point, that any kind of separation of the head from the body is ugly, by hanging or cutting.

[Tesha]

16. You may not have but Marie Antoinette had (heard of it). (NT)

[Mandate My Ass]

17. Not by hanging, it can't be

I'm sure it was neither swift nor clean. It was ripped off, not sliced off. this utter barbarity is being passed off as no biggie. :puke:

[aikoaiko]

19. Still, I'd rather be hung than slowly have my head carved off while sucking down my blood.

:)

[Tesha]

21. Now *THESE* folks knew how to execute!

Now *THESE* folks knew how to execute!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging%2C_drawing%2C_and_quartering

Until 1870, the full (English) punishment for the crime was to be "hanged, drawn, and quartered" in that the convict would be:

1. Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution. (drawn)
2. Hanged by the neck, but removed before death (hanged).
3. Disembowelled, and the genitalia and entrails burned before the victim's eyes (often mistaken for drawing).<1>
4. Beheaded and the body divided into four parts (quartered).

Typically, the resulting five parts (i.e. the four quarters of the body and the head) were gibbeted (put on public display) in different parts of the city, town, or, in famous cases, country, to deter would-be traitors. Gibbeting was abolished in England in 1843.

[demobrit]

23. Decapitation does not ensure instant death

During the French Terror period a scientist was due to be executed but promised to try to blink as many times as he could when his head hit the basket.
Well the Guy was executed and after his head had been severed, the executioner picked up his head and it was recorded that the executed man blinked 12 times before he lost conciousness.
This was shown to prove that decapitation does not ensure instantaneous death.

[Totallybushed]

24. Along those lines

here's an interesting little link.


WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC


http://www.legendsofamerica.com/HC-BlackJackKetchum2.html

[Raine]

30. Interesting

link...Thanks.

[Rex]

26. There is a civilized way to determine a persons weight so that when

you design a counterbalance, their head doesn't pop off! :sarcasm:

[spanone]

27. We've come a long way, baby. NOT.

[Tesha]

31. Well, we have, but not in the direction we were all hoping. (NT)

[onecent]

28. Dead us Dead. I can't see it makes much difference. Hanging

IS pretty barbaric.

[Raine]

29. Another "flub"

it seems that since chimp took control the US can't even manage a "proper" execution. :eyes: