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This piece was inspired by many things. The catalyst was the execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner, by the State of Utah, in the summer of 2010. He was put to death by firing squad (of his own choice). The piece was conceived as a reaction to the firing squad execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010 in Utah. The piece is a gritty satire on the fetish-like fascination society has with revenge killings – veiled in the name of justice and capital punishment.
Here is a video clip of the actual execution chamber used to put Gardner to death:
Our legal system holds people accountable for facilitating, or being an accessory, to a crime. As a society, we say that killing is wrong. It is ironic that our response is to kill the offender… even though killing is wrong. Innocent people are on death row. Innocent people have been executed by mistake. Some may argue that even though the system makes mistakes periodically, the means still justify the ends.
How much innocent blood is retribution worth?
If murder is wrong, then it is wrong. Capital punishment is murder.
“What’s in a name? that which we call a rose – By any other name would smell as sweet”
– William Shakespeare
These murders are carried out with taxpayer dollars that YOU have paid into the system.
You have helped pay for murder.
You have blood on your hands.
The Blood and Sins of This Generation are on your hands.
Our beautiful victim tells another tale – our culture’s sick relationship with sex and violence.
In many conservative homes across our nation, families protect themselves from “smut”. They don’t allow movies with sex scenes, adult magazines, and they try to control what content is viewed on the internet. Sex, even intimations of sexuality – are shunned. Think of it – sex is the force that brought us all into being, and in most instances, it happens in a context of love and affection. It’s a natural, healthy, beautiful drive that deserves proper respect and rightly beckons our admiration. And yet, we call it “dirty” and shove it away.
In these same homes, families sit around the TV and play violent video games. Watch any number of prime time thrillers, and you will see countless lives ended during a 30 minute episode. How many murders does an American child witness on TV / in movies, by the time they are an adult? It’s incalculable. We even thrill to the site of military planes, tanks, guns, and soldiers. We give toy versions of them to our kids to play with. These are machines that lay slaughter to human lives – and tragically, a huge portion of them, innocent humans lives in foreign lands. You’ve helped pay for these murders, too, fellow tax payer…. the Blood and Sins of This Generation are on your hands.
Our victim has one last thing to say…
and this last part
is
very
personal.
She knows your secret.
She represents the things that you secretly love –
… but you have given up on finding…
…and so you have decided to hate, and destroy them, instead. instead.
