Televising McVeigh’s Execution: Be Careful What You Wish For

Howard Rosenberg wants to see Timothy McVeigh, and presumably scores of other convicted killers, executed on public television, because “the public should confront the reality” of the capital punishment it endorses (“Timothy McVeigh: The Closed Circuit,” May 21).

Rosenberg should be careful that his wish is not someday granted. Consider how many wackos would feverishly watch those televised executions and envy a Timothy McVeigh superstar role in probably the highest-rated TV spectacle in history; strapped to a table, a needle in his arm, delivering an eloquent last statement that’d make headlines and be pondered by public and pundits for decades to come.

How many of these wackos might then be inspired to commit an atrocity similar to McVeigh’s, or even worse, in order to star in their own execution eve specials? Perhaps hosted in good taste by Rosenberg himself?

AL RAMRUS

Pacific Palisades

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At one time, executions were entertainment of a sort. Hangings and the removal of heads from torsos were things many people enjoyed watching--large numbers of them. Public executions were definitely crowd-pleasers well up to the middle of the 20th century.

Seems to me we don’t need to create more addictions in an already addiction-prone society. If the state must execute someone, let it be hidden.

CARL GOSS

Los Angeles