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Your inclusion of nerve gas reminded me of this famous poem written by a soldier who personally witnessed the effects that it had on those exposed to it.Guns
Nerve gas
Nuclear bombs
DULCE ET DECORUM EST(1)
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares(2) we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest(3) began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots(4)
Of tired, outstripped(5) Five-Nines(6) that dropped behind.
Gas!(7) Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets(8) just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime(9) . . .
Dim, through the misty panes(10) and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering,(11) choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud(12)
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest(13)
To children ardent(14) for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.(15)
Wilfred Owen
Thought to have been written between 8 October 1917 and March, 1918
WILFRED OWEN - DULCE ET DECORUM EST, Text of poem and notes
West Germany abolished capital punishment in the 1940s, and I don't think East Germany used the guillotine as the mode of execution in the duration before they officially abolished it as well, so that's why it didn't make the short list of inventions I wish could be eliminated from human history. The electric chair has been used in my own lifetime in America, and I haven't left my teens yet. The reason it's troubling to me isn't due to the number of people it's been used on, but the fact that the sole reason it was invented was to execute. As I wrote above, nerve gas would be a more fitting choice for my list, but the difference is that it consists of organic chemicals that have been weaponized, rather than a device that was constructed by man.
Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin
(French pronunciation: [ɡijɔtɛ̃]; 28 May 1738 – 26 March 1814) was a French physician, politician and freemason who proposed on 10 October 1789 the use of a device to carry out death penalties in France, as a less painful method of execution. While he did not invent the guillotine, and in fact opposed the death penalty, his name became an eponym for it. The actual inventor of the prototype was Antoine Louis.
Much preferable to being burned alive at the stake as Joan of Arc, Servetus and the Taino Chiefain Hatuey were..It was the official method of execution in Germany too.
Um, yeah, probably?Much preferable to being burned alive at the stake as Joan of Arc, Servetus and the Taino Chiefain Hatuey were..
Hatuey - Wikipedia
You think that being slowly roasted alive might probably be as painful as being instantly beheaded?Um, yeah, probably?
Probably not.You think that being slowly roasted alive might probably be as painful as being instantly beheaded?
How is asking a question picking an argument? Sorry for asking.Probably not.
Not sure why you seem to be picking an argument here?
All I said was that Germany used to use the guillotine. You seem to be taking it as somehow defending burning people?How is asking a question picking an argument? Sorry for asking.
No, I never imagined that you were defending the burning of people alive since there is absolutely nothing whatsoever that you said which indicates that you support that hideous viewpoint.All I said was that Germany used to use the guillotine. You seem to be taking it as somehow defending burning people?
How does the cell phone screw up society?Hmmm. Three inventions to be banned? OK, (1) the cell phone (2) social media and (3) jerks
Let's see:
1. original sin
2. satan
3. trinity
Those are theological issues.
(one way)
When they can communicate with each other, they hurt each other and others.
Look up how often cell phones are used and for what ,I'm curious to know how people hurt each other and themselves.
Any gadget that enables a person to take a selfie
Megachurches
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