MARCH 28th - Maybe I've Lost my Head



On this day in 1814, a funeral for Guillotin was held outside of Paris, France. Guillotin, if you can’t tell from his name, was the inventor of the guillotine. Apparently he invented (commissioned) the device to ensure equality in death by killing the rich and the poor in the same manner. So no disrespect to the man, some of the greatest minds start the noblest of intentions, only to see their inventions be twisted and bastardized into something they didn’t intend. I do find it kind of hard that Guillotin didn’t foresee the possibility that a device that chops people's head off might have been abused. It wasn’t like he was trying to commission a new type of life-preserver and he, oops, accidentally created a more efficient way to remove a person’s head from his/her body. But then again, I’ve never tried to invent a new way of execution. I mean was the creator of the electric chair actually trying to see if the human body could recharge through electricity? I’m sure Google could help me with that but I prefer some questions left unanswered. Like when are you settling down? Or are you really going to eat that whole pizza? In any case, I get the idea of trying to execute as humanely as possible and with equality, and while getting one’s head chopped off probably involves less suffering than hanging from the gallows, I’d also imagine the public spectacle of it might endorse a bit of blood lust. I also wonder how many people attended Guillotin’s funeral. The guillotine might seem like a great idea, as long as you are sure it won’t be your head on the chopping block. Maybe I've lost my head, but I doubt the contingent that lived on the fringes of the law were celebrating the man who inventing a decapitating device.

This Day has been Marked.

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