Starting next week, death penalty for gays and adulterers

[Twilight Hue]

I cannot remotely imagine what it is to be sent
into combat.

They'll never tell you. I remember my squad sergeant telling us that we will know for sure if they start handing out live ammo sashes while airborne. My unit actually got deployed to the first Iraq War just shortly after I got discharged.

 

[Willamena]

Effective next week those committing homosexual acts or Muslims who commit adultery could be subject to death by stoning in Brunei.

Brunei to make same-sex sexual acts punishable by death by stoning

The death penalty for love. That's sad.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

That tends to be how politics goes when someone else has something another someone else wants, and for much of the world to Uncle Sam that's how people and nations are when they have something he wants.

Hmm...that doesn't make it accurate.
I think we can get in the habit of conflating military power with being powerful.
Brunei is wealthy and debt free. An oil embargo would hurt them, but only if they can't simply find other buyers.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

That's going to be a negative from me, chief.

We can agree to disagree then, it's all good.
Just for the record, I think they exist more as a strawman than a real thing, but there are those who are addicted to being outraged.

There are also some who self-identify as SJWs as a way of trying to reclaim the word in a positive sense.

 

[Audie]

Hmm...that doesn't make it accurate.
I think we can get in the habit of conflating military power with being powerful.
Brunei is wealthy and debt free. An oil embargo would hurt them, but only if they can't simply find other buyers.

Why no move to sanction / boycott China for its
alleged human rights abuses?

Bin Laden's "Lrtter to America" made much of how-
by his (Islamic) standards America abuses / degrades
women in a most reprehensible way.

I am thinking that we could pretty much end
international trade if we all wanted to engage
in morality based sanctions.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Why no move to sanction / boycott China for its
alleged human rights abuses?

Bin Laden's "Lrtter to America" made much of how-
by his (Islamic) standards America abuses / degrades
women in a most reprehensible way.

I am thinking that we could pretty much end
international trade if we all wanted to engage
in morality based sanctions.

I am neither American nor arguing for an embargo.
I was arguing against the notion that Brunei is powerless.

 

[Audie]

I am neither American nor arguing for an embargo.
I was arguing against the notion that Brunei is powerless.

True that. Far from powerless natives exploited by
those rotten westerners, however the white saviour industruial
complex may see them.

 

[columbus]

Of course, I despise this new Brunei policy.

But I really don't care much. I doubt that it's particularly intended to be enforced. The number of people affected is tiny.

I have a much bigger problem with US policies. Like the number of people we execute. And especially, with our for-profit prisons. People financially benefit from the suffering of others, which creates a powerful incentive to increase the number of people suffering.

I find that more despicable than what's going on in Brunei for a couple of reasons. For one, it affects far more people. And also, because we as a society voted for the politicians who put these policies in place and could get rid of this if we wanted.
So, I don't much care about Brunei. I find Texas far worse morally.
Tom

 

[Shad]

Of course, I despise this new Brunei policy.

But I really don't care much. I doubt that it's particularly intended to be enforced. The number of people affected is tiny.

I have a much bigger problem with US policies. Like the number of people we execute. And especially, with our for-profit prisons. People financially benefit from the suffering of others, which creates a powerful incentive to increase the number of people suffering.

I find that more despicable than what's going on in Brunei for a couple of reasons. For one, it affects far more people. And also, because we as a society voted for the politicians who put these policies in place and could get rid of this if we wanted.
So, I don't much care about Brunei. I find Texas far worse morally.
Tom

Only about 8% are private.

 

[columbus]

Only about 8% are private.

The total number of people living in Brunei is smaller than the population of many cities in Texas.
I think for-profit prisons are as immoral as execution for consensual sex. And for-profit prisons exist here, not some tiny country on the other side of the world.
Tom

 

[Shad]

The total number of people living in Brunei is smaller than the population of many cities in Texas.
I think for-profit prisons are as immoral as execution for consensual sex. And for-profit prisons exist here, not some tiny country on the other side of the world.
Tom

I disagree with private prisons in general.. I was just providing a number.

 

[columbus]

I disagree with private prisons in general.. I was just providing a number.

That might have been a little more clear had it been in context.

Context like the prison population of Texas (alone)is over half the entire population of Brunei. Or that the population of Brunei is about 1.5% of the USA. That sort of thing.

It looked like minimizing the issue. Sorry.
Tom

 

[Shad]

That might have been a little more clear had it been in context.

Context like the prison population of Texas (alone)is over half the entire population of Brunei. Or that the population of Brunei is about 1.5% of the USA. That sort of thing.

It looked like minimizing the issue. Sorry.
Tom

My mistake. I usually cut quotes down but didn't that time.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

An oil embargo would hurt them, but only if they can't simply find other buyers.

Capitalism of such a scale just is not concerned with ethics and morality. Those running the show often do not care themselves.

 

[Stevicus]

Elton John joins call for boycott of Brunei-owned hotels

 

[columbus]

Capitalism of such a scale just is not concerned with ethics and morality. Those running the show often do not care themselves.

Frankly, the idea that enough people care about this to disrupt global petroleum markets is laughable. And it shows a great naivety concerning the motivations and goals of corporate and government leaders.
Tom

 

[Revoltingest]

Capitalism of such a scale just is not concerned with ethics and morality. Those running the show often do not care themselves.

I wonder...
Are any socialist countries objecting to Brunei's deadly oppression?
N Korea, Cuba, Venezuela?
And what of ostensibly commie (but seething with capitalism) PRC?

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I wonder...
Are any socialist countries objecting to Brunei's deadly oppression?
N Korea, Cuba, Venezuela?
And what of ostensibly commie (but seething with capitalism) PRC?

What is socialist about NK? Cuba has an odd mixture of the two (and really to small to care that much or do anything about it if they did). I'm not sure about Venezuela.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Frankly, the idea that enough people care about this to disrupt global petroleum markets is laughable. And it shows a great naivety concerning the motivations and goals of corporate and government leaders.
Tom

Yup. The "crisis of the commons" is probably the greatest naivety of right-winged economics, because putting a price tag on it doesn't spare it from excessive squandering, paying for doesn't mean we'll value it more, and ethical and moral concerns are not an inherent part of deciding things. We tell so many lies to justify this horrible system, and turn so many blind eyes to it that I'm not sure if there is any saving the human race at this point. The rich people (and I mean people who are actually rich, not ****-ant millionaires who think they're bigger than they are) will think they can save themselves, and they'll try, but they won't.

 

[Revoltingest]

What is socialist about NK?

Government controls the means of production.