re: #240 goddamnedfrank

I’m not sure who sees it as more savage than the other methods, but it had a rather disgusting history of as public spectacle. The following story illustrates some of the sociology behind the guillotine and how the stoic response of most aristocrats fed the crowds bloodlust. They only saw the victims as human when they reacted like we’d expect a normal, terrified (lower class) person fighting for their life would be expected to react.

I could be mistaken. It’s an impression I gathered by observation. It’s why Jan Brewer was talking about finding beheaded bodies in the desert, and also why the response to Jihadis beheading a Westerner are more intense than just shooting them. For that matter, the response to Saudi Arabia beheading their criminals, which people in a country that still hangs people call ‘barbaric’. I suspect, but can’t prove, that it’s one of the deep fears shared by many people, like dying in a fire or being eaten, but unlike those, it is not a long, agonizing death.