Poll: Many Americans Support TV Executions

[rodbarnett]

NEW YORK -- Two-thirds of Americans polled last month said they support the idea of televising executions -- and 21 percent said they'd pay to watch Osama bin Laden put to death.

Eleven percent said they would pay to see Saddam Hussein executed.

The opinions on executions came in a poll taken by Harris Interactive for the Trio cable channel.

Even though the poll found support for the idea, 54 percent said they wouldn't watch an execution on television.

Harris Interactive interviewed 1,017 Americans aged 18 or older at random Jan. 24-26. The margin of error for the sample is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-tv-televised-executions,0,5963236.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[Barrett808]

1. Snuff TV. "Running Man" anyone? n/t

n/t

[tlcandie]

4. Yup ... thought exactly the same!

What year did that come out and how long did it take us to become sci-fi?

[benfranklin1776]

19. The book came out in 1982.

When Reaganomics was last ravaging the landscape.

http://www.booksfactory.com/writers/king.htm

[saigon68]

61. THUMBSCREWS and TESTICLE CRUSHERS on Live TV

Hear the screams, hear the shrieks, oh Lord why hast thou forsaken me? hear the sobbing children as their father is put to death on live TV </humanity>

The people who want this type of fare, need instant medication and intervention counseling for their MENTAL ILLNESS

They are probably DEVOTED FANS of the sub-humanoid thug "CHIMPANZEE McSHRUB"

[benfranklin1776]

15. Indeed. Mr. King (aka Bachman) was prescient when he penned that book.

Certainly the standard of living is declining towards that depicted in the book. Look at the trend of reality tv towards the ever more bizarre and degrading. The Running Man was the ulitmate perverted reality show, and based on this poll, it looks, regrettably, like it would be quite popular amongst folks. A penchant for bloodthirstiness has apparently not been eliminated by the thin fragile veneer of civilization which has been arduously built over the centuries since the gladiatorial games of old.

[laylah]

63. Great minds

think alike :toast: That was my first thought also. What a decadent, uncaring society we have become.

Jenn

[tlcandie]

2. YET another reason to leave the TV OFF!!! Permanently!!!

:puke:

Guess this was what reality tv was for.. a precursor to warm everyone up to the unthinkable!

[GOPisEvil]

3. So puritan, and yet so bloodthirsty...

...sometimes I don't get this place at all.

[htuttle]

17. Actually, those things are intimately related

One might say, 'joined at the hip' in fact, if it weren't a bad pun.

Here, this link explains it all, as does the book it's drawn from:
http://notbored.org/reich.html

[djg21]

42. A question to consider!

While I am adamantly anti-death penalty, I strongly believe that if you are to have a death penalty, executions should be public events, and yes, they should be on TV.

My thought is that if people actually had the opportunity to see executions, the death penalty would soon be a thing of the past. While it may be easy for some to support a death penalty in theory, when there is no opportunity to actually see executions carried out, I wonder to what extent that support will remain when we can sit in our living rooms and see executions in gory detail? When we can no longer be detached and protected from something that no doubt will make most people uncomfortable, to say the least?

[Tiberius]

52. Great point but there is a risk.

You are wagering that those that would choose to watch might be horrified and change their position to oppose the death penalty.

My contention is that if you're sick enough to actually watch that, or pay money for it, then I have to wonder about you to begin with. Personally I wouldn't take the risk of providing another sick spectacle for the idiot masses to swallow.

I would never willingly *choose* to watch the death of another person. I'm already opposed to the death penalty; I don't need to see the barbaric nature of it with my own two eyes. Second hand accounts are good enough. It's not pretty.

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. As a nation we have become sick, sick, sick............

sick, sick, sick.

[saltpoint]

6. I favor tv executions for people --

-- who favor tv executions.

[Kahuna]

11. Ditto!

:thumbsdown:

[LiberalFighter]

33. How about those that refuse to delay executions for good cause?

[ixion]

7. just like 'the games' in ancient Rome

maybe the state of Georgia is right. Maybe there is no such thing as evolution. Maybe humans are just as stupid and vicious as they have been for the past 50K+ years.

[kitkatrose]

39. No, we evolve, just not all of us,

and definitely not at the same time. Since we don't have to particularly use our smarts to survive, a lot of undesirable genes stay in the pool. :(

But really, it seems like we're repeating the ancient Romans. And we all know what happened to them. :(

[0007]

8. How did I ever get here?

[dawn]

9. Sick, just sick.

I don't buy this at all. Sorry, I think their data is skewed.

[Catt03]

41. I agree

I can't understand the numbers. Where do they get the 2/3 fraction?

[Bonhomme Richard]

10. Maybe it's time to pack up and move to Canada.

Somewhere on the coast.

[Dogmudgeon]

12. Outer Limits episode

From about five years ago.

It was called "Judgement Day".

It starred Molly Ringwald and Chris Elliot. About a TV show that televises executions in the pseudo-journalistic manner of America's Most Wanted.

It's one of the best -- watch it the next time it is on!

--bkl

[Lori Price CLG]

13. ...As long as...

As long as the executions are those that have been guilty of committing acts of treason against the United States... and we know who they are. Hint: It's not 'al Qaeda,' but al Qaeda's employer, a lot closer to home. The coupmeisters.

Cheers,
Lori Price

[DuctapeFatwa]

14. How many would pay to watch peoples' kids "interrogated?"

It is US policy to seize family members, including wives and children, of individuals they suspect of opposing US military operations in its extra-territorial properties around the globe.

Harris should do a poll on how many Americans would pay to watch that.

[seabeyond]

16. that is really just sick

that just cannot be. a wow. hm. i love the quote from bible

eye for an eye
tooth for a tooth

what is always used in this issue, but the bible quoters never finish it

vengence is mine sayeth the lord.

saying we arent here for vengence, they get it in later time

i dont fight this issue. mine is this is what the people decided, but understand if innocent are being murder, in my opion takes it all off the table and certainly no desire to watch. cant watch fear factor eating bugs either.

[PartyPooper]

18. Will these same blood-thirsty idiots ask for a refund

if the person executed on live tv is later found to be innocent of his / her crime?

[stepnw1f]

26. Appears to be another

proven attempt to silent the unhappy citizens. One: this feeds the ignorant with visions of justice, and two: this creates a wall of fear for the more informed.

[underpants]

20. Totally not surprising.....HEy ULTIMATE REALITY TV!!

Morons.

[rockymountaindem]

21. You can sit in court

but you can't go to an execution? Isn't the justice system supposed to be open to the public? Why is it that the only part of the justice system we can't see is the only part that involves taking another person's life. Perhaps these people's support of the death penalty would crumble if only they saw an execution. If executions must be carried out in the middle of the night where nobody can see it, perhaps we shouldn't have them at all.

[seabeyond]

40. look thru out history

the entertainment factor to the common people to watch executions in the town square,. not a society i chose to live again

[mobuto]

22. Very interesting

the number that supports executions is almost identical to the number that supports televising them. The only explanation for that is that death penalty opponents support televising executions as a way of alerting the public.

[LiberalFighter]

34. It's called reality tv

[Zero Gravitas]

23. I support TV executions

most people would be better off if their TVs were executed.

[smirkymonkey]

28. LOL! I think it's a grand idea!!

n/t

[Mandate My Ass]

24. Support for the death penalty drops to less than 50%

when alternative sentences are offered. I'd love to know how the question was phrased. The mention of Osama and Saddam leads me to believe that the questions were very leading.

[Zhade]

60. I think it's very telling that only 11% want to see Hussein executed.

Seems like that's the number of "hardcore" b*shbot believers. Which could mean far less of the public supports the traitors in the White House...?

[hatrack]

25. How about this? "Torture TV - LIVE From Gitmo!!"

Then again, interrogations aren't nearly as predictable as executions.

Actual capital punishment would go on pay-per-view, while mere interrogations would air on the Court TV equivalent of C-Span.

[Renew Deal]

27. It should be American Idol style.

We get to call in and vote who we want to survive. The rest are killed using the painful method of the day.


Iron Maiden, Cool

[renegade000]

29. so when is the colliseum going up?

eom

[Eureka]

30. But no boobs, right?

So long as it doesn't show executions of people with their boobs out, then I guess it's OK with me.

TV Execution = good
TV Boobs = bad

[kskiska]

31. Well, they are all flocking to see Jesus executed

in spite of prior warnings of gross violence.

[peterh]

48. Organized religion = violence

This country is probably 87% religious in one fashion or another and yet we far exceed any other country in guns and murders…..to actually want to see another human being die is just beyond me…..this country is regressing so fast from the tenets of what was thought to be civil, that I truly believe that only atheists have a fucking clue….that may anger some on this board….so fucking be it….

[0007]

45. There is a sick part of society that doesn't make good sense to me

...or maybe its me that doesn't make good sense to society.

A dead person is more appealing than a live tit?

[aneerkoinos]

32. Two-thirds of Americans ar sick in their head

nt

[kayell]

35. They could hold the executions in a stadium for that extra Taliban touch

Of course they may favor the more audience participation style executions from "The Handmaids Tale".

We are rapidly descending into the dark ages.

[ms_splash]

36. Oh, the irony

[renegade000]

38. i can see it now...

Freedom Spectacles at the Bushian Ampitheater

[truthisfreedom]

37. people will commit heinous crimes for the priviledge of going out famously

these are people who would normally stop short of something completely atrocious because of the thought of being trapped behind bars forever in total obscurity.

[Stuckinthebush]

43. I think TV executions are a good idea

DJG21 in post #42 has a very good point:

If we engage in barbaric behavior of killing people, then we shouldn't be doing it in the dark. Let all Americans see what it takes to kill a human being. The majority of Americans support the death penalty, therefore, the majority of Americans should have to watch that which they support.

I would imagine that after watching a few deaths, most Americans would change their tune.

[PaveThePlanet]

58. I doubt that...

Seems that people would gladly watch some lowlife rapist murderer get what was coming to him in the name of justice. Hell, most people would probably want to join. I'd love to have a crack at the jackass who took my uncle.

[Mississippi Liberal]

73. That assumes the "lowlife's" guilt is unquestioned.

I would almost be in favor of televising executions if only to actually focus attention on the people being executed. Executions still happen in this country regularly, but they only receive scant attention in the media. If the execution itself was televised, then the networks would almost be compelled to explain to the viewers the nature of the crime, and perhaps little details like all the prosecution witnesses recanting or the fact that the defense attorney slept through the trial. A single telegenic inmate who had an obviously unfair trial who goes to his death convincingly proclaiming his innocence might well be the end of capital punishment in this country.

[Malva Zebrina]

44. I am not going along with the "many"

[Sparky McGruff]

46. A new revenue stream?

"21 percent said they'd pay to watch Osama bin Laden put to death. Eleven percent said they would pay to see Saddam Hussein executed."

What percentage would pay to see a 15 year old retarded boy executed? How much would the take have been for Karla Faye Tucker? Perhaps Texas and Florida could fully fund their schools with the pay-per-view take. That would be right in line with Bush style justice.

[JCMach1]

47. Capital Idea... seriously

If they are going to be legal... people need to see them.

I think this may be one of the quickest ways to build an anti-death penalty majority.

Not only that, Pre-empt EVERY channel to show them.

[put out]

51. I am with you here. Not pay-per-view,

but prime-time, network, all of the news channels. Make it like the Super Bowl, with a pregame show, and commentary after the game. If people want the death penalty, let them see it for free, and not like it is some dirty secret.

But, then, maybe it is a dirty not-so-secret.

If you support the death penalty, be proud! Insist on watching! And if you can't stand to watch what you want so much to happen, ask yourself some questions.

[Muddleoftheroad]

49. I am pro-death penalty and I oppose this

There are lunatics out there who would seek to die this way. Why give them cause to do something so horrible?

The death penalty should be administered with as little fanfare as possible. No day in the sun for them.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

50. If we're going to execute people...televise it.

I don't want any of "our" actions happening in a vacuum.

Then the electorate will be able to make an informed decision as to whether it's the right policy. My guess is that the DP would quickly fall out of favor.

[uhhuh]

53. Sure

I think we should televise the execution of pollsters first.

[fortyfeetunder]

54. Well last century they did do *public* executions...

http://www.musarium.com/withoutsanctuary/main.html

And took pictures, sent postcards, etc. That was before televisions...

These must be Talipublicans...

[Name removed]

55. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[depakid]

56. Years ago a set of videos called "Faces of Death"

was very popular (before the monopolists drove all the small independent video stores out of business).

I saw a couple of them, out of morbid fascination but then they simply got boring. I'm afraid that the same thing would happen if there were televised executions- some people would be shocked at first, but would later become desensitized. A few of course (probably around 20%) would thoroughly enjoy them and they'd be likely to demand more as part of their weekly "reality programming."

[Suspicious]

69. I saw one of those

"Faces of Death" videos back when I was 18 or 19 - my boyfriend insisted I would like it, since I'm a big horror fan.

I literally became violently sick to my stomach within the first 15 minutes - that was undoubtedly the most vile thing I've ever seen.


Edited for syntax.

[Name removed]

57. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AgadorSparticus]

59. I thought it was a joke at first...but then I read the article. holy cow.

and we are so outraged by the "indecency" of one nipple. I shouldn't be shocked, but I am....

[moondust]

62. Depraved nation.

I'd guess that most of that two-thirds are Bible-thumping self-absolutionists, aka Repigs. Scary.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

64. I think there ought to be something added to spice it up...

...if someone is discovered by DNA testing to be on Death Row erroneously, the chief prosecutor in his or her case should be immediately transported to the nearest state/federal prison to serve a sentence of life without parole for attempted premeditated murder.

Additionally, I believe that if anyone is put to death erroneously, the chief prosecutor in that case should be transported to Death Row for immediate execution under the charge of premeditated murder.

It's only fair, don't you think? Think this might cut down on erroneous prosecutions and convictions?

[saigon68]

65. How about the COPS who beat a false confession out of the Defendant

Or the Cop who sodomized the prisoner with a toilet brush handle

[ze_dscherman]

66. McVeigh

Entertainment Network wanted to televise the execution of McVeigh in 2001 (http://www.entertainmentnetwork.com/mcveigh.html), which was refused by court(http://www.entertainmentnetwork.com/judgement.pdf).

Public executions still take place in Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Vietnam.

Last publich execution in the U.S. was in 1936
http://www.geocities.com/lastpublichang/

[KansDem]

71. Subject of DU thread only today...

Public executions still take place in Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Vietnam.


"Man Convicted of Raping Children Publicly Executed in Iran"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x381884

[leesa]

67. Many Americans are very sick people.

I'll bet every one of these sick bastards describes themselves as religious.

[ithacan]

68. and it's not just a republican thing

it's an American thing.

Americans are sick.

And it comes out in how the US treats the rest of the world.

Bush is not such an abberation. He's just a bit cruder than most administrations.

[saigon68]

70. You are Right ----an Eye of an Eye

I wonder if they will have a lottery to see who pulls the switch

[Claire Beth]

72. neo-cons at work! n/t

[NeoConsSuck]

74. Who would the corporate sponsors be?

I wonder.