February 23, 2001

8:23 AM

Surely the final TV taboo - Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh has requested for television coverage of his own execution.
posted by ecvgi (10 comments total)

This guy wants to be a martyr in the worst way. Notice how the media's paid zero attention to the militia movement in the past 4 or so years?
posted by owillis at 8:57 AM on February 23, 2001

I wonder if this wouldn't make a great sponsorship opportunity. To bad this didn't happen during the elections. Dubya probably would have run spots.
posted by Umpqua at 9:09 AM on February 23, 2001

McVeigh wants to martyr himself as Owillis says.
So why let him be one? Are people seriously considering acceding to his request?

Just execute the terrorist and be done with it.
posted by tomcosgrave at 9:10 AM on February 23, 2001

If the public chooses to execute people I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be allowed to watch it. If nothing else, it might make the public aware of exactly what the word "execute" means.


posted by bondcliff at 9:56 AM on February 23, 2001

I wish they would do it. When is television gonna get to it's logical conclusion?
posted by sonofsamiam at 10:08 AM on February 23, 2001

I wish they won't. I don't think executions are anything to be proud of, much less public executions. This fucker should be locked away for good, not put on display. The prospect of a glorious death isn't going to stop these kinds of terrorists from commiting murder. Let him rot. If they're going to snuff him, then they should do it quietly.
posted by Loudmax at 10:30 AM on February 23, 2001

My preference would be to put him in a small room and let the victim's families do whatever they want with him. But maybe that's just me.
posted by owillis at 11:30 AM on February 23, 2001

Wonder how much FOX is going to pay for it?
posted by DiplomaticImmunity at 12:11 PM on February 23, 2001

"When Terrorist Bombers Attack!"
posted by sonofsamiam at 12:12 PM on February 23, 2001

i'm for televising it, but only for the reasons bondcliff mentioned. it's really easy to say "yeah, fry the bad guys!" but when it's on your tv, i think people might have second thoughts about the death penalty - especially if they consider that this is a guy they *knew* did it. what if it was someone whose innocence was in question? so let fox show it. i want people to have to think about this.
posted by pikachulolita at 2:28 PM on February 23, 2001