December 12, 2005: If you Tookie Googlers are looking for the latest info on the quadruple murderer, here it is.
———————————————————————–
I have to wonder if all the celebrity fawning over Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams has actually done his cause more harm than good? Meaning, if one of the arguments for the death penalty as a deterrent – then what stronger message to send than “I don’t care what you’ve done for me lately, look at what you did in the past!”
First, this is not a discussion about the merits of the death penalty itself – for that, I’ve created a post over at blogs4God that lists what some other Christian bloggers are saying about this media event.
Instead, what I want to briefly touch on, in hopes of a heated comment-driven debate, is whether or not the red carpet of celebrity do-gooders paint government officials into a corner? I think they do.
For example, imagine being a judge on the California State Supreme Court or perhaps the Governator and getting hit on the left side by the latter’s Hollywood peers with arguments of “do it for the children” knowing that the right will return with the argument “look at the message you’re sending.”
The message being: you can brutally massacre innocent citizens execution style without fear of suffering the death penalty so long as you write a children’s book about being sorry for starting a gang. Best part is, you don’t have to actually establish any sort of foundation or and enforceable ‘turn in your bandanna’ campaign – just ‘feel’ sorry.
Perhaps add to that the thought that you also don’t have to apologize nor pay back to the victims of your crime – provided you get to tell your story of your feel-good redemption on the silver screen … but I digress …
If this is the case, if these are the messages we’re getting from the today’s tale of Tookie, then it is reasonable to speculate that the glitterati do their causes more harm than good. What do you think?
As always, you can click on the pix to see the movie poster parody full size.
Now that I’ve fixed the link (c’mon people, comment next time I break it).
{ 7 trackbacks }
{ 19 comments }
Imagine this scene: Nazis captured after WW II manage to land book deals after being sentenced at Nuremberg. Hollywood stars call for their sentences to be commuted, all the while implying that they did not get a fair trial (perhaps the Holocaust was really a neocon plot).
But I should not be surprised by the efforts on behalf of Tookie. We live in a world where Al Qaeda terrorists and death squads are called “insurgents”, “resistance movements”, “minutemen”, and even “freedom fighters”. A murderous gang-banger can easily get lost in the sympathy hustle.
Celebrities do sometimes paint politicians into a corner. They have the media spotlight, and the media in turn does exert an influence.
For example, if you gave an news conference about Tookie Willians Im sure there would be a lot less press than if Halley Barry did the same. Even though you are clearly the more sensible person.
The fault however is with the politicians and leaders who succomb to the pressure.They are more concerned with their ambitions and image than they are with whats right.
Even President Bush succombed to the media pressure not to long ago when the Bush administration started handing out credit cards
willy nilly to the victims of Hurrican Katrina due to the bad press.This is the reason why we need to elect men and women of character so that when the pressure comes they will respond to what they know is right in their hearts.
The Founding Fathers knew it was going to be this way which is the reason why Federal Judges have lifetime appointments.Hopefully, So they will be immune to the pressures of the day. At least that was the hope.
There is no substitute to a committment to God.
That LA County prosecutor’s report you linked to is interesting, scary reading. Notice the redacted photos? On my computer, if I scroll the PDF fast, just for a moment I can see the photos (which are gruesome) showing Tookie’s handiwork. Perhaps someone with better computer skills than me can extract the photos and use them to embarras some of the celebrity Tookie endorsers. If they’re capable of embarrasment.
LaShawn asks: whether or not the red carpet of celebrity do-gooders paint government officials into a corner…..?
Yes. Swartzenegger is trapped into giving “Tookie” a “thoughtful” review.
However, if Scott Peterson, Richard Allen Davis (the guy who murdered Polly Klaas), or Charles Manson took up the cross and poured out children’s books I doubt that a lot of celebrity do-gooders would have the same impact on their behalf.
There is a perverse undercurrent that gives “Tookie” an edge because he is a “victim” of his upbringing and, therefore, society is to blame. The ACLU liberal side of the coin could have a field day shoving “Tookie” down the white man’s throat.
The Governator is not blind to results of the trial of the cops who arrested Rodney King. Nor is he unaware that O.J. Simpson remains an icon for many. A minority gang leader can draw significantly more social sympathy than the white leader of Hell’s Angels or the KKK. (Please, do not assume I think any of them deserve empathy, sympathy or anything beyond hard justice.)
John in Ann Arbor, I’d recommend not viewing … but here is a link to a page that has links to some of the victims.
Note the warning on the links page, they mean it, trust me, very disturbing.
I truly hope Arnold doesn’t cave in. What about all the other deathrow inmates who want to live? The only difference is they don’t have rich Hollywood-ites campaigning for them. Why should rich Hollywood-ites make the difference? He has never been repentant for his crimes, by all reports. Still says he didn’t do it, though all the evidence screams it. This is not the time to let a murderer off for the cruelty he did to innocent people; esp. when he laughed at the gasping sound one of them made as he tried to breathe after being shot. And he referred to his three vietnamese victims ‘buddha heads’, as though that were a respectful way to talk about his victims. Where is Jesse jackson decrying the “Buddha head” racist label Tookie used?
Another example of L.I.F.–Life Isn’t Fair. How did he get a children’s book published? There are a lot of people outside of jail who are trying to get their fiction published. So does this mean they should start murdering to get a fair shake? It’s the System.
I heard Mike Farrell on Hannity yesterday saying how the witnesses who testified against Williams aren’t credible. He got convicted by a jury of his peers, right? He received the appropriate sentence for the crimes he committed. If the anti-death-sentence crowd wants to protest, that’s fine, but don’t try to tell me that Williams is innocent.
SeanS writes:
>>>”He got convicted by a jury of his peers, right?”
So were a lot of people recently released from death row based on new evidence.
Is not Toukie Smith a “born again Christian?” Do you doubt his faith? What did Jesus say to the convict hanging on the cross beside him, again?
–Cobra
I always find it funny that “Christian” “Right to Life” people are always the first in line pushing for the execution of the death penalty…
Life is full of IRONY
Laugh if you want, anonymous commenter, but one day it won’t be funny at all. The ultimate irony is yet to come.
Your ignorance of what the Bible says about justly punishing murderers and what Christians believe is trite and juvenile, as if being ignornant isn’t bad enough without those adjectives. You sound like a teenager with that tired “Christian Right” line, although you’re probably an adult (a man, I suspect). Go read the Bible, read my archives, where this subject has been covered ad nauseum, and come back when you’ve gained a little knowledge. You’ve noticed your other comments didn’t make it. Same old triteness. - Admin
“Is not Toukie Smith a “born again Christian?†Do you doubt his faith? What did Jesus say to the convict hanging on the cross beside him, again?”
We know-He said the thief would be with Him in Paradise, thus forgiving him, JUST BEFORE THE THIEF WAS CRUCIFIED!
Thanks for pointing that out, seal-lover. The man was saved from eternal punishment, but not from the just punishment he created for himself on earth.
If people took the whole Bible into account, and not just the verses they think make their point, it would be most edifying. - Admin
Seal-lover writes:
>>>”We know-He said the thief would be with Him in Paradise, thus forgiving him, JUST BEFORE THE THIEF WAS CRUCIFIED!”
Exactly. He was crucified right alongside of Jesus, who represented the greatest clemency argument on record.
Or….
Are you arguing against clemency in THAT case as well? The people did choose Barabas over Him when offered…jury of his peers?
–Cobra
Hmmmm… Jesus as the ultimate example for clemency. Cobra has that exactly right. Not only was he absolutely innocent, but the kangaroo courts set up to try his case only proved him innocent. It was only after His innocence was established that he purposefully committed the “sin” of blasphemy by declaring His divinity - equating Himself with G-d (here, not a sin, but a declaration of fact, ergo still innocent.) However, He still died, by his own choice. Not to pay the penalty for his crime, but for the penalty of my sin.
So, yes, Jesus should have walked. Instead he chose to die.
With that said, (as Seal-lover beautifully pointed out) Jesus did not commute the penalty of the thief’s crime, but did forgive his sins. If Tookie’s sins are forgiven, then he will be tearfully begging to kiss the feet that were nailed to a cross so that he wouldn’t be guilty for the killings at his own hands. You see, Tookie has had the opportunity to repent and ask for forgiveness. So have I, so have you.
Understand that when society condemns one to die for killing another, they are judging the crime, not the sin, nor the sinner. Sin can be forgiven, crime cannot be undone.
El Riggo writes:
>>>”Understand that when society condemns one to die for killing another, they are judging the crime, not the sin, nor the sinner. Sin can be forgiven, crime cannot be undone.”
I agree my brother, accept our “society” is the United States of America, where the criminal justices system is undeniably stacked against those who are poor, and in the minority. I do not hold those in power and authority in the justice system in the same esteem as the Ultimate Power and Authority.
I guess that’s what makes me a LIBERAL, and against a man-made death penalty in the first place.
–Cobra
I,ll bet OLIVER STONE or MICHEAL MOORE wants to make a movie about TOOKIE WILLIAMS dont put it past them to do this their lowlife scoundrels on hollywood
In response to the last comment.
Yes the judicial system is stacked against the poor and minorities.
Yep its unfair.
However, this Tookie guy killed those people. If he was rich, he might have gotten off, but he didnt. Doesnt change the fact that he did it.
He has to pay the price for his crime no matter the fairness of the system.
I love it how the likes of Cobra are quick to play the born again Christian card when it suits them.
The sister article this post over at blogs4God describes another, not so famous person who was recently hanged in Singapore, but not until after an in-prison conviction.
What’s the point here? Regardless of one’s saved state, we are personally responsible for our actions. Moreover, repentance is more than just feeling bad about something.
There are many things a person like Tookie could do along these lines already identified in the above/original post.
Save Tookie Williams…Kill Terri Schiavo!!
Have you noticed that the same Liberals/Democrats that were going crazy over Jeb Bush intervening to save Terri Schiavo’s life b/c government ‘has no right’ to change a judge’s orders are now BEGGING and protesting for Governor Schwarzenegger to change the courts order to kill a vicious murderer that founded the Crips Gang????
They have so much tenacity and ‘fight’ in them to stop the death and save the life of a vicious killer YET when it came to an innocent woman they had so much fight to see that the law was carried out to starve her to death! They are insane, to say the least! No wonder they love Howard Dean and John Kerry so much. They are just alike….always contradicting themselves…..
This beast should have been executed 25 years ago. Today, however, he should not. We can’t have it both ways. This is not the same person who killed those people. Placed in the same circumstance he would not kill again.
So what’s the point of executing him — revenge?
Gov. Arnie is being asked to execute a different person. There should be a rule: once a person is on death row for 20 years, he doesn’t get executed.
Revenge beyond 20 years is irrational. If your father arrived at your house and begin beating you for someting he overlooked 20 years ago, you’d have him committed, right?
ricland
Comments on this entry are closed.