Octopodial Chrome

My old acquaintance and college roommate John Gipson writes about the absurdity of the term pre-owned; he's right, of course. It's a ludicrous phrase invented by some sad fellow stuck in a little cubicle somewhere. The proper word is, of course, used.

This morning Singapore executed a young Vietnamese with Australian citizenship was executed. His crime? He had carried nearly a pound of heroin into an airport there, while in transit to some other destination. Many across the world are outraged, but for exactly the wrong reasons.

Indeed, most opposition has been based on a misguided hatred of capital punishment rather than a recognition that no legitimate crime was committed. Was the hanging wrong because hanging is somehow barbaric? Hardly—a properly carried out hanging is a fairly humane procedure. Was it wrong because execution is wrong? Hardly—execution is a proper punishment for certain horrendous crimes (e.g. murder, rape, treason, perhaps kidnapping and possibly certain kinds of theft). No, the execution of Nguyen Tuong Van was wrong because there is no more wrong with carrying heroin than with carrying boxes of soap. That, not some theoretical folly regarding the death penalty, is the problem here. Many opponents of the hanging would have been satisfied with life in prison for a man who had done naught wrongat all.