Reply #22: The death penalty brutalizes and coarsens society! [View All]

[LongTomH]

Thesaurus.com lists all these antonyms for the word 'brutalize:'

Main Entry: brutalize
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: corrupt
Synonyms: animalize, coarsen, debase, debauch, dehumanize, demoralize, deprave, harden, pervert, vitiate, warp

Every one of them is descriptive of what the death penalty does to our society, our public discourse, and our politics. If you want evidence of all these, reference the Tea Party Republican debates and the cheers directed at Perry for his record number of executions.

And what of the politicians who rode to office on the number of people they sent to Death Row? A Texas campaign race in the 90s was characterized as a Fry-off. In 2000, we got another Texecutioner: George W. Bush. Just look what kind of president he turned out to be. The same smirking psychopath who ridiculed a woman pleading for her life was the same one who pumped his fist at reports of carnage from Iraq, and virtually ignored the suffering of the people trapped in New Orleans by Katrina.

The death penalty feeds something very dark and primitive in us. Just look at any online discussion of capital punishment - even here - especially when the subject is how the death penalty should be carried out.