Why do we electrocute men for murdering an individual and then pin a purple heart on them for mass slaughter of someone arbitrarily labeled enemy?

The line is a pointed indictment of moral inconsistency in state-sanctioned violence. It contrasts the criminal justice system’s punishment of individual murder (electrocution) with the celebration of killing in war (the Purple Heart), arguing that the difference often rests on political labeling—who is deemed an “enemy”—rather than on the intrinsic value of human life. The rhetorical question exposes how institutions can redefine the same act (killing) as either monstrous or heroic depending on context, and it implicitly challenges nationalism and militarism by framing war as “mass slaughter” rather than noble service.