Execution Videos

I’ve seen execution videos before, as most of us have. They are not really newsworthy, but I’ve made myself watch them to ensure that I make a deeper emotional bond with the world at large.

You can read about people dying and you can hear about people dying, but it doesn’t have nearly the impact of watching people die right before your eyes.

The most impact, of course, comes from being there in person — but most of us are lucky enough to spend most of our lives away from direct interaction with lethal violence. That is a good thing, but it does make it difficult for many people to understand the world beyond their doorsteps.

The latest execution video to find its way to my Inbox is Beheading execution of a Mahdi Army leader. This video is so extremely graphic that I am linking to it, not embedding it.

The most interesting aspect of this video is the complete lack of good guys and victims. This video shows a Shiite death squad leader being executed by a Sunni death squad. This is one bad person killing another bad person. How do you emotionally react to that? You can’t cheer for the good guy, you can’t feel sympathy for the person whose head is being slowly removed, you can’t feel that justice is being done, you can’t feel that the world is a better place — or a worse place — after this act.

If you are so inclined, please watch this video.  But then watch yourself, because that is the real show.  See how the video of this killing makes you feel – how it affects your view of the world.  That is the real story behind execution videos.