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Televised executions

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I couldn’t believe it when the local news channel posed the question to its viewers via its website: Would you want to witness an execution [broadcast on TV]? It wasn’t the question, but the results that amazed me.

While I did expect a few people to be voyeuristic enough to watch something as horrific as that, but I never expected that viewers would outnumber non-viewers by 2 to 1.

The question is related indirectly to the lethal injection case soon to be heard in the U.S. Supreme Court.

I wish I could remember the name and more of the details of a creepy sci-fi movie I watched years ago that focused on this topic. In the movie, death row convicts were sentenced to fight in a “to the death” gladiator-esque television special. The mob mentality of the viewing audience was sickening.

In the Old West, townsfolk would always turn out for a “good hanging”. Not much has changed when you look at the hanging of Saddam Husain’s and how so many Internet and media outlets went crazy showing the video.

Why do so many people enjoy barbarism like this? I thought humans had evolved beyond animal instincts and were somewhat civilized. Or does the fact that government sanctions the killings somehow elevate the death of one human at the hands of another into the realm of civilized behavior?

If so, then animal behavior sounds better to me. At least most animals do not kill for pleasure or out of some odd notions of justice. Instead, the kill only what they must to survive. Somehow that sounds far more civilized to me.

I doubt that TV, movie, and video game violence is as desensitizing to real-world violence as many opponents fear. Then again, I thought that most people would never want to watch real-life murder on TV. I can’t begin to explain why else our society has regressed back to Roman Colosseum era brutality in the name of “good entertainment”.

I’m sure that some well intentioned individuals feel that this might work as an avoidance measure to dissuade potential criminals from the path to hell. Somehow, if the person isn’t scared enough of our prison system, the death penalty, and all the other things that could happen, I don’ t think televised executions will scare them onto the path of righteousness.

I don’t think it will help the families of the victims either. Closure comes with time and usually a little forgiveness. Watching another person be killed on live TV is not going to help bring closure any faster and could add even more emotional scars.

We must not let such a travesty against humanity occur.


Update 28-Oct-2007: After a little over a month, the results are somewhat more promising. 56% (310 votes) are NOT in favor of it, but a still alarming 44% (246 votes) would like to watch an execution.

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