On Saturday 26 Apr 2008 5:03:50 am Rishab Aiyer Ghosh wrote: > http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/04/21/080421fa_fact_diamond?current >Page=all Vengeance Is Ours
> State government is now so nearly universal around the globe that we > forget how recent an innovation it is; the first states are thought to > have arisen only about fifty-five hundred years ago, in the Fertile > Crescent. Before there were states, Daniel’s method of resolving major > disputes—either violently or by payment of compensation—was the > worldwide norm. Unfortunately "modern states" constitute only a small proportion of the world, and people in those modern states imagine that they represent the entire world. Check "Qesas crimes" in Islamic law here. Also look at Hadd crimes. http://muslim-canada.org/Islam_myths.htm Vengeance is alive and healthy in islamic law, which is imposed as Sharia across huge tracts of the world, including the UK. > Daniel explained to me that Handas are taught from early childhood to > hate their enemies and to prepare themselves for a life of fighting. “If > you die in a fight, you will be considered a hero, and people will > remember you for a long time,” Heard of jihad? > There is no doubt that state acceptance of every individual’s right to > exact personal vengeance would make it impossible for us to coexist > peacefully as fellow-citizens of the same state. In fact the death penalty is a result of the state taking on the responsibility of blood for blood. I personally find it easy to see how the concept of "state" developed versus individual allied or warring clans. When coercive military force gets concentrated under one leader, he becomes the biggest murderer of them all, ensuring that his supporters get loot, and opponents get eliminated. When such a leader is faced with civil war due to personal rivalries among his followers, his own strength is reduced by disunity. It makes sense for him to quickly murder a murderer and force vengeance seekers to subsume their instincts to his justice. In democracies the "state" and "constitution" is the king. The actions and intent are the same. shiv
