Televised executions?
Televised executions?
Q
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/3/05
#1Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 11:14am
The NY Times had an opinion piece about the prospect of televising executions (or releasing recordings online.) Many interesting questions are raised.
I'm personally against capital punishment, and agree with the idea that they should be made public because "people should have the right to see what is being done in their name and with their tax dollars." If you're going to support it, you should support the reality of it, not some mental construct that keeps you at a distance.
Link to article.
WOSQ
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
#2Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 11:38am
I am in favor of capital punishment only if crimes by elected public officials are made capital crimes, and I am quite serious. Corruption's worst effect is on the faith of the people, so make that betrayal a much more serious crime than a crappy jail term or fine will ever gloss over.
Put a few crooked congressmen on a gurney, and send it out over the airwaves so people can watch rich white people get killed legally.
Holding office is a responsibility, and ought to have repercussions if used for personal gain.
If corruption by elected officials is not a capital crime, then no crime ought to be one.
"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable."
--Carrie Fisher
#2Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 12:01pmWhat a day, what a day, for an auto-da-fe!
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#3Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 12:25pm
Auto-da-fé? What's an auto-da-fé?
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
#4Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 12:32pm
Q, have you ever seen this movie?
Witness to the Execution
Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)
#5Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 12:35pm
When they've swept up the ash
We can meet
Down the street
And have lunch!
What a day!
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Q
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/3/05
#6Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 12:52pm
D2 - no, I haven't. I barely made it through DEAD MAN WALKING, though (I'm almost sure I didn't breathe for the last ten minutes of it, anyway.) The fact that WITNESS... stars Sean Young gives me some pause for thought 
I'd be curious how the story unfolded, however.
And WOSQ - am I mistaken, or did you categorically lump "elected public officials" and "rich white people" together? I'll grant a preponderance, but hardly accept them being one-and-the-same.
#7Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 1:02pmIn all seriousness: I've become more supportive of the death penalty as I've gotten older and less idealistic, although I believe that there are still serious errors that need to be addressed (racial biases in the system; the shoddiness of appeals processes for death row inmates; DNA-related materials; etc.) However, this sounds like straight-up barbarism to me.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#8Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 1:07pmArguably, televising an execution is just as cruel (albeit in a different way)as the living dissections of afflicted celebrities by the press.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Q
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/3/05
#9Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 2:04pm
I would think the 'cruelty' is pretty much covered by the choice to execute. I'm a bit bothered by the notion of, "Oh, yes, by all means kill him/her, but we don't want to have anything to do with it." Witnessing it brings a bit more complicitness, to my mind.
On the other hand, of course, is the 'meet in the town square for a picnic during the beheading' scenario that has been written about from days gone by. We've seen tendency toward that with public 'partying' (for lack of a better term) during past executions (ie. Ted Bundy.) And, quite honestly, that kind of expression makes me vaguely sick to my stomache.
No easy answer to the concept in general, as we know. But, I do tend to agree with their premise of shared accountability.
#10Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 3:18pm
Why those "corrupt officials" will never be treated as the criminals they are?
Guess who makes the laws.
Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.
wexy
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/19/05
#11Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 3:36pm
It will all be about ratings
Lethal injection would be boring.
Firing squads?; The cast of Jersey shoots, four have blanks and one the real bullet
Gulliotines?
or hangings
'Take me out tonight where's there's music and there's people and they're young and alive.'
#12Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 3:55pm
I like the firing squad idea with the cross over celebrity marksmen... So You Think You Can Shoot?
This weel Kirsty Alley, Florence Henderson, Kim Hardashian and Bristol Palin take aim!
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
#13Televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 4:01pmNext week a special inspirational episode featuring Stevie Wonder.
#14televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 9:20pm
i've been arguing for this for years! but, we gotta do away with that lethal injection bs. hook them killas up to ol' sparky, give the folks at home four options for how the current will flow then let 'em text away and control it in real time.
r.i.p. marco, my guardian angel.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
JohnBoy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/06
#15televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 9:59pmThere's a rich black one in the White House. Or, doesn't half count?
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#16televised executions?
Posted: 7/29/11 at 11:54pmKill everyone now! Condone first degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat sh!t! Filth is my politics! Filth is my life!
#17televised executions?
Posted: 7/30/11 at 3:11am
People keep saying it would act as a deterrent.
Well, we had public executions for centuries. Didnt seem to deter much.
http://docandraider.com
Q
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/3/05
#18televised executions?
Posted: 7/30/11 at 6:35amI keep thinking about this televising proposition, and ending up at the same place - I think it should give people pause for thought, but I don't think it actually would. While I, myself, don't think I could actually watch - much less participate - I have a feeling I'm in the extreme minority.
#19televised executions?
Posted: 7/30/11 at 7:23am
I've always wondered if watching executions live on TV would be a exciting as these last 5 minutes of Susan Hayward in I WANT TO LIVE!
http://youtu.be/ZY_Sq_euI6w
...which I always thought would make a helluva musical.
#21televised executions?
Posted: 7/30/11 at 10:04amCan you just imagine what the show curtain will look like!?!
Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)
JohnBoy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/06
#22televised executions?
Posted: 7/30/11 at 10:16amIf you're going to televise executions so people can know what they support, then you need to televise abortions, too.
#23televised executions?
Posted: 7/30/11 at 10:25am
Call me crazy, John Boy, but unless you're a woman, that's a decision you're never gonna have to make.
Just sayin'.
Back to our regularly scheduled beheading, now in progress!
http://docandraider.com
Updated On: 7/30/11 at 10:25 AM
JohnBoy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/06
#24televised executions?
Posted: 7/30/11 at 10:34amAnd, unless your a judge or governor, executions are a decision you're never going to have to make.
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