At Booman Tribune, Chris posted an interesting first-person account. It had to do with a collision/shooting that occurred last week in South Philly. It starts with a conversation Chris had with someone at a makeshift memorial for the victim of that incident. Here's a taste of his experience:
Yesterday afternoon I was taking a stroll around the neighborhood and stopped by the park to have a look at the memorial. As I approached I noticed a well dressed older man with bright white hair and beard, leaning on his cane while attempting to write something on the white piece of paper you see in the foreground of the picture. I attempted to have a look at what he was writing, assuming it was some expression of sympathy for the dead man. He quickly straightened up, gave me a wide smile and said “this was the last time that ingrate will ever rob somebody.” He was not there to express sympathy, but rather to rejoice in an execution. He mocked the teddy bears for a moment and ambled off with a bright smile on his face. ... (full text)
Much of the story deals with an impromptu interview Chris had with the man at the memorial (an excellent example of citizen journalism), attemptimg to unearth more of the man's perspective. Like Chris, I'm perplexed about why the man seemed so pleased with the death of another human being. A key snippet:
I asked him if he felt that public execution was the proper punishment for petty crime. He said that it was.
I recommend reading the whole account. I'm curious to know if there are people reading this who feel the same bloodlust Chris observes in his post.
Are normal people really this bloodthirsty?
Hm
He forgot to ask if the guy's a poster to phillyblog.