11-05-2009, 06:58 PM
I agree that "enlightened Europe" has it's problems - everything you have listed and more. I am very sorry that you found this out on your holiday!
I disagree that the death penalty or the adoption of an absolute ruler (dictator) would solve these problems.
There is (generally - I'm not too familiar with the specific situation in Austria) a shortage of policemen, a lack of funding and, yes, a ridiculous amount of beaurocracy: often necessitated by a US-style culture of suing everyone (hence we need written records of everything). There is often a strong moral case for rehabilitating a criminal, especially for minor crimes which may be the result of poverty or mental illness. The system is just too under-funded to successfully rehabilitate people.
Also, there have been some high-profile cases of people being wrongly imprisoned over the years.
Ivgen, let us suppose that there is an issue you feel strongly about. If it is illegal to protest or go against the president's will, how do you cope? If you did not have enough money for food for some reason, would you steal some? And would it be right to face the death penalty?
Obviously people are still committing these crimes, which is how you know that they will be executed or "severely punished" ;-) Therefore, we know that there are still problems in Belarus! Surely it is better to tackle the underlying problem (Poverty? Unhappiness?) than to just execute people?
Hey, SiD, have you ever been to Belarus? I want to agree with your comments, but I cannot be objective because I have never visited!
I disagree that the death penalty or the adoption of an absolute ruler (dictator) would solve these problems.
There is (generally - I'm not too familiar with the specific situation in Austria) a shortage of policemen, a lack of funding and, yes, a ridiculous amount of beaurocracy: often necessitated by a US-style culture of suing everyone (hence we need written records of everything). There is often a strong moral case for rehabilitating a criminal, especially for minor crimes which may be the result of poverty or mental illness. The system is just too under-funded to successfully rehabilitate people.
Also, there have been some high-profile cases of people being wrongly imprisoned over the years.
Ivgen, let us suppose that there is an issue you feel strongly about. If it is illegal to protest or go against the president's will, how do you cope? If you did not have enough money for food for some reason, would you steal some? And would it be right to face the death penalty?
Obviously people are still committing these crimes, which is how you know that they will be executed or "severely punished" ;-) Therefore, we know that there are still problems in Belarus! Surely it is better to tackle the underlying problem (Poverty? Unhappiness?) than to just execute people?
Hey, SiD, have you ever been to Belarus? I want to agree with your comments, but I cannot be objective because I have never visited!