Bring Back The Lunatic Asylum!

[Flatearther]

What a boring pack of lifeless, whining pedestrian nerds we've all become. What has the place come to that you can no longer get a decent day's entertainment out of mental illness, or a public execution? Does everything have to be so damned predictable? Not all capital punishment was a dreary and sad and hand wringing business. Like, some of our ancestors knew how to have really imaginative and inspired fun. No wonder we've become depressed and boring. My great grandfather in Old Russia wouldn't dream of going to an excitement filled public flogging or a good, hearty and robust 'rope dance' to return to the hearth unenthused with life. The thought of it! They'd be primed to just get to it and make even more little Russians from the sheer invigoration of it. He'd herd the whole extended family together, they'd pack the picnic baskets and prepare the horse and cart and off they'd go for a wonderful public outing - and it only cost a quarter of the earth!

Imagine, if we got off our brain warmers and got into the spirit of our dear departed. That wonderful, imposing structure on the crag above the hill. The twilight settling like a shroud, and the bats circling, as we gaze in wonderment at the gigantic iron gates bearing the sign "Lunatic Asylum For The Criminally Insane" -'enter at own risk' - and the blood chilling screams from within would just make you feel like a kid all over again, wouldn't it? Think of the revenue a tax-starved government could sweep up in the name of mental health (ill health). Tourists could poke sticks once more at the paranoid, children could again frolic in those unholy grounds and be entertained and amused by throwing eggs (at market prices) at the schizos, and just everyone could get a hearty belly laugh at the expense of the manic depressives. Imagine a thousand, - nay, ten thousand such institutions decorating this vast continent. Why, we would be the envy of everyone, and especially the Japanese (who would need such humour explained to them). If we get short of colourful (productive) loonies, just hire the next best thing - professional actors. Get the sleaze and the grunge just right, and you're looking at creating a bigger employer than the tourism and the mining industries put together. Let mental distintegration shine an inspirational light toward the future! Let there be exceptionally great madness in the method.

 

[builder]

What a boring pack of lifeless, whining pedestrian nerds we've all become.

Don't tell me you have multiple personality disorder? Your collective descriptor does not describe me.

What has the place come to that you can no longer get a decent day's entertainment out of mental illness, or a public execution?

Bladdy liberals. Party-Poopers.

Does everything have to be so damned predictable?

I wouldn't put odds on that.

Not all capital punishment was a dreary and sad and hand wringing business. Like, some of our ancestors knew how to have really imaginative and inspired fun.

I must be an ancestor, because I don't need electricity to have fun.

No wonder we've become depressed and boring.

Get out of your shell then. All of you. LIfe is wonderful when you embrace it.

My great grandfather in Old Russia wouldn't dream of going to an excitement filled public flogging or a good, hearty and robust 'rope dance' to return to the hearth unenthused with life. The thought of it! They'd be primed to just get to it and make even more little Russians from the sheer invigoration of it.

I'm thinking there was no cable tv there?

He'd herd the whole extended family together, they'd pack the picnic baskets and prepare the horse and cart and off they'd go for a wonderful public outing - and it only cost a quarter of the earth!

As a kid, I used to detest those outings. Now, I treasure them.

Imagine, if we got off our brain warmers and got into the spirit of our dear departed. That wonderful, imposing structure on the crag above the hill. The twilight settling like a shroud, and the bats circling, as we gaze in wonderment at the gigantic iron gates bearing the sign "Lunatic Asylum For The Criminally Insane" -'enter at own risk' - and the blood chilling screams from within would just make you feel like a kid all over again, wouldn't it?

This is a movie script? Am I right?

Think of the revenue a tax-starved government could sweep up in the name of mental health (ill health). Tourists could poke sticks once more at the paranoid, children could again frolic in those unholy grounds and be entertained and amused by throwing eggs (at market prices) at the schizos, and just everyone could get a hearty belly laugh at the expense of the manic depressives.

The men in white coats will be around to fit you for your new tuxedo shortly.

Imagine a thousand, - nay, ten thousand such institutions decorating this vast continent. Why, we would be the envy of everyone, and especially the Japanese (who would need such humour explained to them).

The Japs would love it. No doubt. Some of their game shows are bizzare.

If we get short of colourful (productive) loonies, just hire the next best thing - professional actors. Get the sleaze and the grunge just right, and you're looking at creating a bigger employer than the tourism and the mining industries put together.

That's a huge call, Mister. You got the dollars in mind? Or the popularity?

Let mental distintegration shine an inspirational light toward the future! Let there be exceptionally great madness in the method.

It's a slippery slope indeed, unless one excercises the brain occasionally.

 

[Lethalfind]

I have to say that I could not find entertainment in the death of someone, even if they deserve it. I geuss that makes me a hypocrite because I do believe that some people need to die in order to ensure the safety of society, Ted Bundy was one of them, his repeated escapes from jail made him a continuing threat however I would not want to watch him take his last breath.
My Father who was a staunch believer in the death penalty, had occasion to observe an execution when he was a minister. He said it was the most horrific thing he had ever seen, it stuck with him for the rest of his life. I have had men who were soldiers tell me that while they had to kill or be killed, it still haunted them, the taking of another's life.
IF someone ever broke in my home and I had to protect myself by shooting him...it would be an act that would haunt me the rest of my life. His deserving to die would not change the fact that I had been in the middle of such a traumatic situation. Even if the person was dead, I don't know how I would ever feel safe again.
As for finding the mentally ill entertaining...I can't find that funny either. I feel terribly sad for them and their families.

 

[rizzo]

I don't think that it's hypocritical to believe in the death penalty, and not find entertainment value in it. There are monsters in this world, and we are better off without them. That does not mean we need to make a mockery of them, or their death. Kill them, be done with it, and let society move on.

I don't find the mentally ill or taunting them entertaining, either.

 

[Flatearther]

I was about to start a thread on schizophrenia - but I'm in two minds about it. Cheers!

 

[rizzo]

I was about to start a thread on schizophrenia - but I'm in two minds about it. Cheers!

Hahaha! That was funny!

 

[Lethalfind]

What I meant too say is that I think it's a little hypocritical to SAY you believe in the death penalty but be unwilling to observe an execution should the situation arise. If it were my family member or loved one that was murdered then I would watch but I just couldn't watch other wise.

Just like I eat meat but I would not want to EVER be at the slaughter house to watch while the animals are put too death. I veal but I wouldn't want to watch them slaughter the calves to get it. I REALLY love lamb chops but ...you get the point.

 

[Flatearther]

Yeah - and just because I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get me. Im in a state of total awareness - but you can tell my condition from the ones that have been playing shootem-up games too long. They walk into lifts backwards. Cheers!

 

[rizzo]

What I meant too say is that I think it's a little hypocritical to SAY you believe in the death penalty but be unwilling to observe an execution should the situation arise. If it were my family member or loved one that was murdered then I would watch but I just couldn't watch other wise.

Just like I eat meat but I would not want to EVER be at the slaughter house to watch while the animals are put too death. I veal but I wouldn't want to watch them slaughter the calves to get it. I REALLY love lamb chops but ...you get the point.

My misunderstanding. I agree, it does seem hypocritcal to be for the death penalty, but unwilling to watch. I suppose I'm a hypocrite, too. But it doesn't really bother me all that much!