indiscriminate bombers DON'T get to heaven

The life of William S Burroughs was shaped by the choices he made, which ultimately revealed him to be a venal, self-centred, and nonhumanist man.

Unfortunately, as a libertarian, Burroughs impinged on the lives of others through those affected by his writings. One of his tracts advocated random assassination, as a force to destabilise a society. As a disaffected product of a wealthy nation, he had the freedom to do that.

It is possible but doubtful that Indonesian jihadists have read his writings. But they come from exactly the same place, albeit being disaffected products of a poor nation.

Which some of them just made poorer. Every time the indiscriminate bombing of a western target splashes death tolls across world headlines, Indonesia's economy tanks. And it's not just tourism - one of its prime industries - that suffers; it's also trade, and in particular the foreign investment that lifts a poor country up into the developing world. And if you don't hold much stock in that, you don't live in poverty in a poverty-stricken country.

Those latest bombers can be excused for feeling disaffected, at the receiving end of a number of potentially crushing power disparities. But there can be no excuse for the stupidity and selfishness of their action, which ultimately have the opposite effect of whatever their intention was.

And those who expect to get rewarded in an afterlife would find, if you could model such an afterlife, that they are excluded for that very selfishness and stupidity.

Bali bombers and the brutality of execution

Sometime in the next few days - if it hasn't already happened - Indonesia will execute three Bali bombers. They were found responsible for the deaths of 202 people in Kuta in 2002.

Australia's media always mention in the same breath that the toll included 88 Australians, but 38 Indonesians also died. The bombers were quite willing to kill their own kind for their cause.

None of this excuses execution in any circumstances. It meets brutality with brutality, and it further brutalises society. It sends the wrong message to children, to those contemplating violence, to everyone.

Australians seem to be divided on the matter, with about as many favouring execution as disfavouring it. I'm sure the results would be rather different if the polling included the fact that Indonesia also plans to kill some Australian drug traffickers - yet in an ethical world, that should make no difference.

Our Prime Minister should show leadership on this. But Kevin Rudd has been quite reticent, to his discredit.

There are many reasons to not execute. If one condoned life imprisonment, for example, those people would have a lifetime to live with their deeds, and to contemplate atonement.

If polls were conducted with sufficient consideration, people would inevitably prefer atonement to brutalisation.