On Tue, 2008-04-29 at 09:28 +0530, ss wrote: > Vengeance is alive and healthy in islamic law, which is imposed as Sharia > across huge tracts of the world, including the UK. [...] > In fact the death penalty is a result of the state taking on the > responsibility of blood for blood.
i don't think the point of the original article was that the state eliminates vengeance - rather, it _mediates_ vengeance. the death penalty is of course just institutionalised murder and frequently justified by vengeance on behalf of the victims. however, whether it is revenge by religious (e.g. sharia) or by civil law, because a state, court or other "authority" _mediates_ this vengeance, it does not continue forever. it is one eye for one eye; not, as in the example described by jared diamond, one eye for one eye, followed by another eye in revenge, and so on ad infinitum. -rishab
