Having seen the graffiti, I'm not sure "artist" is the word I'd use.Point taken, Walter, but let's put it on the record that Mediacorp in SG calls its performers "artistes", even if Phua Chu Kang does not by any means fit the definition of "art". Eh, PCK still funny, lah.
In the meantime, well... all I can think is that any American who complained too much about this level of punishment has clearly not been around too many BDSM dungeons back in the US, where skin is broken frequently with various implements, including canes, sometimes leading to permanent scarring. Not that there's really much difference in terms of the level of pain for bad beatings that break skin and those that don't.
As someone who routinely doesn't commit the offenses they penalize people monetarily for in Singapore, much less does anything so stupid as to justify actual caning, it's hard for me to have much sympathy for people determined to screw around and do illegal stuff over in someone else's country.
Yeah, yeah, think whatever you like. It doesn't change the fact that a guy whose artwork is IMHO worth more than every graffiti vandal on earth combinedBansky is a graffiti vandal, therefore the value of his work cannot eclipse that of every graffiti vandal on earth, Q.E.D.
Because it's illegal, it damages and destroys property, it promotes crime, and it's a gateway crime?!Gateway crime. LOL. Since every Crackhead once chewed gum, we should definitely ban gum. Hey, and Signapore totally did that.
Thank (insert deity) that the victims of that repeat sexual offender who got caned were able to use their safewords, then, to stop the scene when they were being sexually harassed.Which has nothing to do with graffiti, obviously. Your so overflowing with hilarious rage that you're not even bothering to keep track of the thread.
Incarceration is inherently inhumane. More so than being caned, even. Criminality should have punishments... the surer, the better. And this, in aggregate, is a good, just, fair thing compared to the alternative.And again, this guy is being both caned and imprisoned. I'm not sure why that's so hard for people to understand. He's getting five months in prison.
So do you start to get it now? Graffiti even destroys the lives of the people who do it. They would rather go to jail for felony vandalism, than stop it for a free ride to art school. These people are not artists, they are vandals, they live to destroy. -- charlie don't surfSo what? These people were obviously compulsives, like kleptomaniacs. The graffiti itself didn't destroy their lives, the fact that they were imprisoned did. They should have been given psychiatric assistance. The fact that the courts want to treat everything as if was a rational choice rather then a compulsion that needs treatment is what 'destroyed' these particular people.
"The total number of people arrested on charges of possession, use, or trafficking in drugs (in Singapore) has been dropping since 1994. In 1998, the trend continued, as the number of arrests dropped 19 percent. Of those arrested, the number of first time offenders rose, but the number of repeat offenders fell.
Apart from the "zero tolerance" policy for trafficking, Singapore uses a combination of punishment and rehabilitation against first time offenders. Many first time offenders are given rehabilitation instead of jail time. The prosecution rate has remained steady at one-third of those arrested over the past two years. . . Halfway houses and job placement programs exist to help addicts successfully readjust to society. At the same time, the GOS has toughened anti-recidivist laws. Three-time offenders now face mandatory longer sentences and caning."Deterrence. Does the death penalty deter? It is hard to prove one way or the other because in most retentionist countries the number of people actually executed per year (as compared to those sentenced to death) is usually a very small proportion. It would, however, seem that in those countries (e.g. Singapore) which almost always carry out death sentences, there is generally far less serious crime. This tends to indicate that the death penalty is a deterrent, but only where execution is an absolute certainty.
Anti-death penalty campaigners always argue that death is not a deterrent and usually site studies based upon American states to prove their point. This is, in my view, flawed and probably chosen to be deliberately misleading.« Older Stephen Doyle's Dollar Bill Illustrations... | Cellist Zoë Keating... Newer »
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posted by shii at 9:26 PM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]