Why do we still joke about setting up old wooden guillotines?
from Seigest@lemmy.ca to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world on 05 Oct 14:13
https://lemmy.ca/post/52846603
from Seigest@lemmy.ca to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world on 05 Oct 14:13
https://lemmy.ca/post/52846603
I see all the memes about guillotines for the rich, funny in spirit, but actually building one in the town square is not practical. They take a ton of materials, they are huge, and they do not even work reliably. Would it not make more sense to build one from metal with hydraulic pistons or something? I am not a machinist, but a more mobile unit you could wheel into a square to decapitate a few effigies seems about as effective for sending a message, and easier to remove or relocate if needed.
#nostupidquestions
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Do know what a meme is?
Honestly, some people don’t. Assuming op isn’t trolling, one of my kids is like this.
If it’s about sending a message, then the item itself is the conveyor of the message, not an unrecognizable but more efficient substitute. The guillotine is a recognisable symbol of people rising up and seizing power from the criminal ruling class. It is a warning and a threat.
If you plan on actually executing people, then sure - optimize all you want, or just go with a bullet to the brain.
But as a symbol, the guillotine is powerful.
Let’s not encourage the troll. Sure there are certain people that it won’t hurt my feelings at all if they suddenly stop living, but at the same time I don’t agree with the death penalty, I think that just makes the executioner just as evil, if not moreso, than the person getting their head lopped off.
Death no good yo.
That’s a nice sentiment. But an unrealistic one. Be the bigger man riding his high horse down the high road after we win. These people kill us every day. With the police. Via social murder. Deaths of despair. Poiaon food and water. All their fault. An intentional policy choice.
If we have to kill them to win. Then they gotta go.
Makes about as much sense as fucking for virginity or killing for peace. I’m not buying either of those ideas.
It must be nice, living in a fantasy world where good people win because they’re good and the bad guys get to sit in jail for being bad.
I would love it if we lived in an ideal world where everyone plays by the rules.
I am not naive enough to think we live in that world.
Meh, I’ve been threatened multiple times by crazy people, even cops.
I’ve found that staying chill and just walking away from crazies has successfully prevented me from getting a bullet to the head.
Two wrongs never make a right. Kill them with calm kindness. Just walk away, don’t contribute to the violence.
Feel free to turn a blind eye to reality, not all of us are priveleged enough to do so.
I’m not turning a blind eye to reality at all. I totally get it, life itself is a risk.
I’m 43 years old, and have enough common sense to not agitate crazy people. I’ve had my share of crazy experiences to know, that being chill is way better and safer than sinking to their level of violence.
I've seen discussions about the future of automation where people speculate "what will rich people do with the general population when they're no longer necessary to keep industry running for them?"
Opening up the "let's just kill the people we don't like and don't want as part of society" box seems like a bad idea in a context like that.
It’s already open. They are kidnapping people from their homes and work and sending them to die in foreign concentration camps. It’s already here. They’re already doing it.
Stooping to their level ought to make things better, then.
How would you suggest stopping them then? Fascists on a power trip don’t give a shit about your letters. Or your signs. Or your songs outside their buildings.
Would England have freed the United States without violence? Would Hitler have backed down from controlling Europe if you held a sign for long enough? How about Putin? Or Netanyahu? Or Pol Pot? Saddam Hussein? Hideki Tojo?
There are countless examples from history where meeting violent with violence is the only answer. They bring it. You either fight back or you die.
Put them in jail. If you're in a position to execute someone, then you're in a position to imprison them. These are not supervillains who can break out of Arkham Asylum every time there needs to be a new round of villainy.
Why wouldn't it? It freed Canada.
At these points you're in a state of active war with another country, execution is not an option. You need to fight the actual war at that point.
Afterwards, though, once you've won the war and have captured the leaders and war criminals and such? No need to execute them, the war has been won. Imprison them.
Those aren't the examples at issue, though. Unless you think a guillotine is a battlefield weapon?
That’s a totally different situation. They’re past threatening. They’ve already started the violence. The president raped children and his followers are throwing people into concentration camps. And your solution is “just walk away”? What the fuck is wrong with you.
I'm against the death penalty because I don't believe it should be necessary in a just world, nor should the state ever be trusted with that kind of power.
However, I see the guillotine as symbolizing the last resort in an unjust world. The worst monsters in society commit their injustices in broad daylight, and nothing will be done about it. We know that justice will never be served through the courts. So what then?
Other options are available besides death. Like, lock the 34x felon up in prison, like they should have already done…
They should have. But they won't.
Interesting.
I say they should have locked him up, I get downvoted.
You agree, he should have been locked up, you get upvoted.
I don’t give a fuck about the actual vote count, that doesn’t matter. But the differential of votes for two people that expressed the same opinion, the fucker should have been locked up, well that dumbfounds me.
It’s cause yours comes off as more optimistic whereas the other comes off as more realistic. Like, as a recent example, Diddy should have gotten a life sentence or even at least 20 years in prison, but he only got 4 and at most he might serve like 1-2. Seeking justice through the proper channels in this world doesn’t work and won’t work till we destroy everything and rebuild even if the road to get there is paved in blood.
And I choose to not participate in a world of violence (save for self defense or defense of my family or friends). I’d rather be helpful than harmful, like I’d rather carry groceries upstairs for elderly people rather than looking for a reason to shoot someone because they talk with a weird accent.
You’re getting downvoted because you’re saying we should do something that clearly will never be done. He ain’t been locked up yet despite a laundry list of crimes and convictions.
When justice becomes a joke, people will eventually take it into their own hands, for better or worse.
And by all means, if that’s what needs to be done, I already said it won’t hurt my feelings. I just choose not to participate in such a way. My late father was a weapons engineer, amongst other skills and trades. I shot myself in the arm when I was only 3.
So I choose to be a non-violent person, because I know what it’s like to be shot. Life ain’t a game, nor should it be treated as such. We should all be here trying to help each other, not this bullshit we got going on today…
Yeah man, but there’s what should be, and what is. Things are fucked. And unfortunately the people fucking everything up aren’t going anywhere peacefully.
There are people at the top who have the power to make things better for everyone but choose the furthest from that. They do direct harm to so many people with no accountability. To deny them of their lives would be showing them the respect that they show to others. It’s the least we could all do.
Did you miss the part where I'm pointing out the fact that it won't happen? I'm not agreeing with you, I'm making a point.
Did I miss your username? No.
Are you here with intent on causing trouble? I’m not.
I'm here making a point, and you're willfully ignoring that point to pretend I agree with you.
Guess what?
Those of us that choose to not participate in violence tend to live longer.
You’re just here dividing people, are you from Russia per chance
No
Troll is a matter of perspective and in this situation you are the troll so what were you saying again
I reject the idea of beheading, and somehow I’m the bad guy?
Well you have a nice day too, and accept that you’re cool with people getting their heads chopped off.
Less people is the answer not more people.
They are already the executioners. The guillotine is all about executing the executora
I’m not gonna stop ya, go ahead and build it and do it…
I just won’t be participating.
Not stopping is participating so you’re just as bad as us, Friend. Thats half the battle
By your interpretation of participation, anything you do, or do not do, is still participating.
You lost the game.
Nobody is wanting to build a guillotine. it’s simply a symbolic reference to the French Revolution.
Exactly. It’s like when people joke “eat the rich”. Zero desire for cannibalism, but 100% desire for the rich to be removed from the earth.
Compost the rich.
Excellent solution.
I don’t know. I hear the rich are full of toxins and heavy metals.
Compost is usually used to feed vegetables, so I don’t think I would want that particular solution.
I would say it might be better to macerate and dehydrate the rich and then use the resultant rich jerky as part of a carbon barrier for depleted uranium and other hazardous radioactive wastes.
If we're being actually realistic I think it's "tax the rich so that they are no longer so extremely rich, and use the resulting funds to benefit the general population."
There's no need for killing.
I have a desire for cannibalism. I’ve heard human meat can be pretty tasty when cooked and seasoned just right.
Long pig.
Building is a lot of work. Using one is another story.
Same reason we still “hang up” the phone.
I propose we build a large paper cutter style contraption.
Let’s make the blade 5 m long so that it’s big enough for everyone to see. Also, the blade should be so heavy that it will always chop reliably. You should also put some nice bearings in the pivot point so that it always swings very smoothly.
Oh, but how do we lift a heavy blade like that? If electricity is available, you could have an electric motor to lift it up. If not, you would need some rope and pulleys.
As the blade falls down, it would need to shear the target material to make a clean cut. This means that you can’t have a huge gap between the blade and the lower surface it shears against. Just like in paper cutters, the stationary blade needs to be made of steel, but it doesn’t have to be super sharp. The gap is important though. Think of the gap between scissor blades and you’ll get the idea.
As the contraption will inevitably be contaminated with organic material, it could have an integrated Clean In Place system. After each cycle of operation, the CIP should spray the affected area with cold water and soap. If that doesn’t do the job, there would be a second program that uses hot water and soap, which would obviously require more energy.
All that water needs to come from somewhere, so you’re going need like an IBC container. If you need more than 1000 l, you might need to use a lorry to deliver enough water. Ideally though, you would operate in an area where you can just connect the contraption to a nearby water outlet. Ask a local a firefighter to help you out.
Also, all of that water needs to go somewhere too, so I would recommend operating it in a place where there’s a sewer near by.
If you’re planning to operate in remote locations, I would recommend building it into a detachable lorry bed. You know those things with a hook loader. This way, you can move the machine easily to wherever you need and even lower it to the ground where it’s easier to operate.
Hold on, what was the question again? Got carried away by the logistics of all of this.
Because if we talk about guns and bombs we end up on a list.
Why am I thinking of a d4a/InheritanceMachining crossover episode?
Ugh? Guillotines are very reliable actually. And it’s not that expensive, everything is wood except the large blade. Also, you can’t fake an execution, the crowd will be satisfied when they see the head
It can be faked.
I remember these specials from the 90s. They also did one with secrets of pro wrestling. Except the pro wrestling secrets were all very outdated and no longer being used.
Damn, MSR was sooo good
Oh how times have changed
Don’t fix what’s not broken
Use a log splitter with a different blade, higher capacity valance and an accumulator for faster action. Strengthen the frame and maybe add a dampener for the end of stroke so things last longer. Reloading ca be controlled by smaller hoses.
Don’t log splitters work incredibly slow?
That’s not really gonna chop people’s heads off, rather it would inexorably pinch their necks until their head falls off.
That’s pretty fucking gruesome.
If we’re going for gruesome, how about we build a huge version of one of those slicers that they feed vegetables in, and just feed the oligarchs into it.
Gives you the option to feed them head first if you want to show mercy, while still being able to feed them in feet first for someone like Musk.
Then they are cut up into small, easy to compost pieces.
Wood chippers exist and are pretty much this
While I appreciate the composting efficiency, I was thinking something like this for maximum gruesomeness:
youtube.com/shorts/c7lSg0T0dJ0
that’s just a wood chipper on less of an angle and with the blade shown
and a bigger blade because it doesn’t have the stiffening framework behind
Most wood splinters do move slow but that one (Large valve and accumulator) would make it faster.
Sadism is a negative, not a positive.
I thought they mean it for the equipment, that it does not wear out so fast
If your execution equipment is wearing out from overuse then that raises further questions that a society should probably think about.
well I don’t know how many uses it takes to wear out a decent guillotine, from my part it could be good if it can do 5 turns. no idea
“Last longer” was referring to the machine life not the execution. The accumulator is there to make it painless.
if it were up to me, i would use a chainsaw
With a ball chain on it instead, make the moment last longer.
Are you the type that loves bathing in gore? Because that’s what will happen immediately if you start chainsawing people up. They throw everything directly back at the user.
Treat it like a Gallagher show and give the first 3 rows rain ponchos.
shit, man. fuck
You can make them modular, with telescoping rails, for portability. The blade needs to be weighted, but the weight can consist of a stack of weights, like on gym equipment. In fact, you could probably repurpose a bench press machine into a guillotine with a few minor modifications.
You can also add jets to make it shoot down faster.
I love where your head is at! 🤣
for now…
Not the basket D:
It’s called a Smith Machine.
Really smooth action.
Guillotines are too tame for modern audiences. Wood chippers are fresh and exciting.
Ohhh that’s great!
Who is joking?
Ton of materials?
It’s just a large frame to hold a big knife dropped by letting go of a rope. The hardest thing to get would be the blade, and the whole thing could be constructed in under 2 hours.
I like your approach here of making a clearly wrong statement just to get more activity on this important topic
I will add yet another comment that guillotines are neither complicated nor require much material. you could make a sturdy one with less than a dozen 2x4s, some screws, a scrap piece of rope, and whatever junk metal you have lying around that’s around 24x8 (which you need regardless of how fancy the frame itself is)
that said, mobile ones seem like they would also have a purpose
Same reason people have crosses on them. It’s a symbol.
Because we don’t see what real, actual, guillotines do.
I accidentally saw a guillotine-execution on DuckDuckGo ( they used to be much worse than they are now, for including stuff you don’t want to see )
and … it’s kinda hard to communicate how WRONG that is, to chop a human-life to that degree of … to just-now-dead…
interesting: I can’t communicate how wrong/horrible it was, through words!
Anyways, there’s some German word, looks sorta like schedenfruede or something like that…
it means “finding enjoyment in other people’s suffering”, and old-people don’t find it funny, generally, because old-people have experienced enough diversity-of-suffering to be able to understand other-people’s perspectives…
The more one sees what people mean, the more one has to choose a self-defense-for-one’s-psyche strategy:
either sensitivity, in which case one has to avoid the coarser & worse stuff in life, systematically … XOR
de-sensitization, in which case one can joke about it, push it, even do it, because one is making one’s essence become mechanical/dead to what one’s engaging.
There’s a story of Hinduism, during the British rule of India…
Some privileged people got together to do some hunting…
1 of those was Indian, he’d used guns, before, he just hadn’t destroyed someone’s life, before…
After he shot a naturally-magnificent animal, & saw it dying as a result of his bullet, he put down his rifle, & left, never returning to that kind of culture, again…
IF sensitivity is one’s path, like making oneself into a combination microscope+telescope, spiritually, THEN … this kind of reaction becomes inevitable.
You just can’t accept what a real guillotine-execution is.
Joking-about such stuff is fine until you actually understand what it means … & then … you can’t joke about it, anymore.
Like Ukranians are unlikely to be able to joke about what Russia did to Mariupol, you know?
It’s too live-wire fresh a wound…
Having seen what a 1-to-2-second long video of a guillotine-execution looked like, I’d now say that only the evil could do them, repeatedly.
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