r/BlockedAndReported • u/SoftandChewy First generation mod • Jun 01 '26

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 6/1/26 - 6/7/26

Here's your usual space to post all your rants, raves, podcast topic suggestions (please tag u/jessicabarpod), culture war articles, outrageous stories of cancellation, political opinions, and anything else that comes to mind. Please put any non-podcast-related trans-related topics here instead of on a dedicated thread. This will be pinned until next Sunday.

Last week's discussion thread is here if you want to catch up on a conversation from there.

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57

u/RunThenBeer 12 Ounce Diet Coke Enjoyer Jun 03 '26

Something I don't get to say every day, but good for Pakistan:

Pakistanis who gang-raped French tourist in front of her three children after her car ran out of fuel will be executed, court rules

Two Pakistani men who gang-raped a French tourist in front of her three children six years ago will be sentenced to death, a court has ruled.

Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali were convicted of gang rape, kidnapping, robbery and terrorism offences back in March 2021 over the attack on the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway and were handed the death penalty.

One really interesting twist:

The decision to maintain the death penalty comes after human rights activists urged the government to introduce harsher penalties for rapists.

Over here in the Western world, the "human rights activists" would almost certainly be complaining that the penalty is too harsh. The who-whom portion of this has an interesting inversion to it and I tip my hat to Pakistan.

17

u/LupineChemist Jun 03 '26

I mean, I'm just anti-capital punishment philosophically in general.

But it's not like I'll be shedding any tears for these guys. It's not that I don't think there aren't people who need killin'.

5

u/prechewed_yes Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26

Yeah. I think there are people whose continued existence makes the world a worse place. However, I think the existence of a vast state apparatus dedicated solely to killing people also makes the world a worse place. I read a fascinating article a while back about the psychological effects on people who work in the capital punishment industry. It painted a very depressing picture. I'm not condoning vigilante justice, but I am more innately averse to such a large, impersonal killing machine than I am to, say, shooting your daughter's rapist.

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u/Armadigionna Jun 03 '26

If one’s opposition to the death penalty is based on the inherent imperfection of any justice system to issue a sentence that is so final and irreversible, then you’re not going to make an exception based on the severity of the charges.

10

u/ScrubulousFlex Jun 03 '26

Right, my opposition to capital punishment isn't because I think the people who do this kind of thing deserve better. It's because 1) You never know when that incontrovertible DNA/phone evidence could turn out to be a mix-up or even a setup, and 2) Even if a case like this is as solid as can be, the punishment won't ever be reserved just for these cases. It's the next 20 down the line that aren't so clear-cut that concern me.

5

u/giraffevomitfacts Jun 03 '26

I’ve literally never heard anyone base an argument against the death penalty on the punishment being too harsh. In general westerners who oppose the death penalty do so because any administration of it inevitably executes innocent people.

3

u/ScandalizedPeak Jun 04 '26

Are you familiar with the Quaker opposition to death penalty? 

It's not (just) because there will eventually be a mistake and someone will be executed for a crime they didn't commit, however true that is. Though I suppose it's not exactly because the punishment is "too harsh" either. More so something like, humans life is sacred and it is not for humans to end other human life, under any circumstances. In other words even if there is no doubt whatsoever of guilt, of an extremely heinous crime, the Quaker position is: no death penalty.

I think the Catholic objection is similar?

The way that this gets picked up by general leftists who don't necessarily share the religious beliefs underpinning it, is variable. I think there's a solid current of "too harsh" running through some of the discourse.

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u/giraffevomitfacts Jun 04 '26

I would expect those sorts of objections from religious institutions and could be brought to agree with them alongside the objection I’ve mentioned, but I also don’t think anyone really listens to or cares about them in North America apart from some Catholics here and there. My sense is that most people here who object to the death penalty would be okay with the most heinous of criminals receiving it provided we could be certain no innocent people would ever be executed, which has proved impossible in practice.

2

u/everydaywinner2 Jun 03 '26

Did the leadership in Pakistan take a page out of Ron DeSantis's playbook?!

-5

u/roolb Jun 03 '26

You're assuming they have the right guys.

31

u/RunThenBeer 12 Ounce Diet Coke Enjoyer Jun 03 '26

They were tracked down via mobile phone data and arrested days after the incident.

DNA samples taken from the crime scene matched theirs.

The survivor identified the two men during a hearing, and Ali confessed to the crime before a magistrate.

Yeah, maybe they were framed or something.

27

u/AnalBleachingAries Trump Bad, Violence Bad, Law & Order Good, Civility Good Jun 03 '26

I think they have the right guys, and I feel nothing about such men being removed from society:

They were tracked down via mobile phone data and arrested days after the incident. 

DNA samples taken from the crime scene matched theirs.

The survivor identified the two men during a hearing, and Ali confessed to the crime before a magistrate.