(#4679) When torture should be legal

      I have tried to be civil about torture and in most instances, not all, torture should not be allowed. However there are circumstances that to me are the exception. Mainly with the placing of stocks in public squares to punish those who have committed treason should be allowed. I know it is inhumane to put someone in stocks and have them stay there for ridicule from the citizenry but we must as a society place our allegiance to our democracy above all things. There is only one form of government that is worthy of being hailed as the most precious and fair, that would be a true democracy. So in order to protect that democracy we must have laws that humiliate offenses to it and then reinforces that humiliation as an example.
     Now having to stand with one's head collared in some wood for all to see is not necessarily the most heinous form of torture but it does qualify as a torture so that is why I am trying to describe it's necessity. Embarrassment used to be a form of deterrence and could be again with the proper humiliation added. Being singled out in the public square as a traitor before going to prison to serve a life long sentence may seem a bit too much but I see it differently. When all can see through the media a person being displayed in stocks out in the open for all who could be there to ridicule them serves our society not so much as a tool for enlightenment but a tool for discouragement.
     I am sure many will disagree with me and that is not unintelligent. But I would argue that too many now can get away with murder and still be hailed as a hero. Well let us take those who don't get away with it and hail them as villains who will be punished harshly. Deterrence is the key here so as to thwart the easily available path toward doing bad with no real humiliation involved. If anything, if we would just think what we are becoming because we refuse to punish those who do our society harm. Protocols could be devised to keep from disabusing public stock usage. We need to stop the ignorance and ease at which too many would turn our democracy into dust and we can never allow that to happen!