Back in the days of the gladiators in the Colosseum, there was no fun in "thumbs up". The fun was in "thumbs-down" - patrons exhorting their emperor to command an execution.
That's how the criminal justice system does it in America - no fun in leniency, or mercy. The people want blood; give it to them.
This past week, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, in the sex abuse trial of gymnastics' doctor, Larry Nasser, sentenced Nasser to 40 to 175 years in prison. Then, she said to him, with a gloating that was unseemly for an officer of the court: "I just signed your death warrant." The courtroom erupted in applause. Thumbs-down.
Welcome back to the Colosseum, or "America," as it is called today.
