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From Socialist Review, No. 186, May 1995, p. 36.
Copyright © Socialist Review.
Copied with thanks from the Socialist Review Archive.
Marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
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‘If you read the account of Ingram’s near death and eventual execution you get a horrible picture of debasement where practically everyone involved seems to have shredded every last ounce of humanity’ |
Much has been made of the exciting idea of British talk radio copying its American counterparts. The model is that a right-wing nutter is given a show all of his own where he (and machismo seems to he an important ingredient in all this) can spew forth any old reactionary garbage that flits through what is meant to pass for his brain, and where hated liberals can be humiliated during the phone-in section.
Thankfully the rather watered down British version of this nasty garbage appears to be drawing very few listeners, but if you want to know just how bad it can get take this charming little example as the model.
As lawyers for Nicholas Ingram fought to keep him out of the electric chair, this was the dialogue on a class piece of US talk radio.
A caller named Barry phoned in, and added his unique contribution to humanitarianism everywhere. Barry: ‘We should put him on the chair and put a life size model of his victim in front of him, then just jack up the voltage little bit by little bit till he gets the vibration going.’ Presenter: ‘Yeah that’d be great. We could put it on television and do it for a week. We could have a lottery on what night they’re gonna fry him.’
Now much has been made of Ingram and what went through his mind as he committed his murder. I doubt that whatever it was could have been any sicker then braindead Barry and the raving shock jock.
This reaction seems to me to sum up everything that is abominable about the death penalty. Of course, there are the completely logical and vitally important arguments against it. It acts as no deterrent and completely innocent people have in the past and will in the future he executed. I recently met Paddy Hill of the Birmingham Six for the first time, and it is quite spine-chilling to ponder on the fact that had the death penalty existed in Britain at the time Paddy would be long dead.
No doubt there would have been no shortage of Barrys ringing up to re-enact sick fantasies about the manner of his execution.
Which brings me back to the key point: the debasing nature of the whole process.
If you read the accounts of Ingram’s near death and eventual execution you get a horrible picture of debasement where practically everyone involved seems to have shredded every last ounce of humanity.
How could prison guards who knew the man had been granted a stay of execution have gone through the macabre performance of shaving his head and leg as if he literally had minutes to live? What sort of person could perform such a task anyway, let alone go on with it when it was not necessary?
On what grounds could the prison governor possibly refuse the man a last request for some cigarettes because new policies forbid smoking? It certainly couldn’t be health grounds.
Why was he forced to listen to two Christian chaplains whose religion he had rejected, but was refused his own religious counsellor? Cruel, vicious, petty and barbaric is the only way the whole charade can he described.
Then there was the woman who looked like a sales executive and whose job it is to sell judicial murder to the press. She was somewhat put out by the stay of execution – it had both upset her timetable of announcements, and interfered with her social calendar.
She tried to justify herself by making remarks about Ingram’s eyes.
‘There has been a certain sharpness and intensity in Ingram’s voice. His stare struck me as kind of chilling ... I thought about that look all night, he was just mean ... I almost want to go and look him in the eye just to see if I saw what I thought I saw, but I won’t know till I get there.’
Well, blow me down. A man who may be executed at any moment has a ‘chilling’ look in his eyes. just fancy that – not a playful look, or a happy look, or a sexy look, or the look of a man who’s just won the lottery. I wonder why?
I suspect that part of that strange look that she might just pop in and have another peep at was contempt for her and all the other ghouls who surrounded him.
Apparently, Ingram’s last act was to spit in the face of the governor, which some commentators seem to think is proof positive of how evil he is.
Personally I like to think that were I facing execution I would make a legendary speech from the chair about the evils of capitalism, my socialist principles, and the future I hope others would enjoy.
However, just on the off chance that I couldn’t compose my thoughts or my nerves, I think a spit in the eye for the barbarian who was about to kill me would suffice nicely thank you!
Of all the people involved in this whole sordid performance only one showed genuine humane emotions. Ingram’s lawyer Clive Stafford Smith practically wept as he told reporters, ‘You bet I’m upset, quite honestly I think what we’re about to do is utterly, utterly barbaric.’
He was 100 percent right, and the barbarians who surrounded him, who played games with a doomed man, who made glib statements, or who went on air to utter their vicious bile proved him so in the most profoundly disgusting way.