Its a Nguyen Nguyen situation

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17435269%255E421,00.html
You may not realize it, but the title for tonights post is actually very funny. Because sometimes I am a sad, sad, pathetic individual, I am going to explain it to you. Van Tuong Nguyen is of course the Australian executed by Singapore for packing heroin. The day after his execution the Australian government passed down the sentence on his brother they held off on for 4 years while Van Nguyen was waiting for execution. The pronunciation of "Nguyen", one of the 3 most popular names in Vietnam, is "win".
Now, if you think that joke was sad and pathetic, go read the comments in the link. This particular line of inquiry led to several comments and I think it is important enough to persue a little bit, so here goes some free associating. Strange how this has gone from me just posting random brain smurf to sometimes a real conversation...
In my mind drug trafficing verges on being violent. The products they distribute can only ever harm...a mind-altering substance does not "expand your mind" as the 60s experimenters would have you believe but warps your sense of reality, inhibits your brain from its natural functions, and often enough results in brain damage and even death. Remember Len Bias? And that is just an off the cuff, no thought required suggestion.
However, is smuggling heroin worthy of death? One person suggested mitigating circumstances...and if you followed Nguyen's story you know that his defense attorneys made that exact claim that he was essentially forced into his actions by corrupt pushers...is there any other kind?
I do not know enough about his case, but what I do know is some of the comments I linked to are downright stupid. "This young man has made a mistake through good but misguided intentions." I don't know what you know about heroin but I can tell you this...there are no good intentions involving it. If you are selling, distributing, taking, etc....you have no good intentions.
Then again, the gleeful "lets declare it a holiday so people see what drugs do" crack back of another individual seems cold, heartless, and just as naive in its own way.
Rod misses the point and compares automobile accidents to criminal executions. One is, uhm, an accident while the other is a punishment. And for those of you keeping score at home, I just revealed part of my bias. I believe capital punishment IS a punishment...NOT a deterrent.

From: KateComment: It's completely barbaric... and in the long run the only people that will really suffer is the innocent family left behind.
And here is a fine example of acting on emotion instead of intellect. His brother is an offender granted leniency due to Van Tuong's situation. That is innocent? Sometimes we hurry too quickly to find innocence where there is none.

Sally points out her nephew received no honor or minute of silence after his 1st shot of heroin killed him.
Several people embarrass themselves by resorting to cheap name-calling such as "bleeding hearts". What does this accomplish?
Meanwhile, remember:Australia started as a penal colony; the national awareness of criminal background is a constant counterpoint to daily life.
But perhaps the most poignant, most insightful, most important comment was this:
From: MattComment: No formal tribute or minute's silence is appropriate. While I'm strongly opposed to the death penalty and believe Nguyen does not deserve to die, he is still a drug trafficker who committed a very serious crime in a country where he knew the penalty was death. He may be the victim of a legal system we believe to be unjust, but he is not a hero. Dare I suggest a minute's silence for the 1000 people who died in concentration-style camps in Northern Uganda this week? And the week before that. And the week before that ...