Calgary Herald | 08Sep2010 | Orest Slepokura
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Reread+Jackson/3493067/story.html
Reread Jackson
Re: "Iran woman's stoning soon, son fears," Sept. 07, 2010.
The case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman under threat
of death by stoning for alleged adultery, is thankfully giving Iranian
officials a massive PR headache, exposing the Islamic republic's legal
system as barbaric and tribal. Had her prosecutors read Shirley
Jackson's story, The Lottery, they might've entertained sober second
thoughts about opting for this mode of execution for the "crime" of
adultery.
The 1948 short story has shaken generations of readers with its tale of
death by stoning. Villagers in a neighbourly community gather annually
and via a lottery select a victim from among their neighbours, slated
to die under a hail of rocks.
The bland and matter-of-fact way the villagers organize their ritual
sacrifice contrasted with the gruesome nature of the killing -- the
victim, incidentally, being a wife and mother -- is a one-two punch
that moves any normally sensitive reader to recoil with horror and
revulsion. Worldwide horror and revulsion against Iran will rightly
attend this woman's execution should it be carried out in the manner
prescribed.
Orest Slepokura, Strathmore