posted on June 11, 2001 12:12:24 PM new
Many news reporters seem to be feasting on the fact that McVeigh kept his eyes open while receiving the lethal dosage -- that, and his final written statement which contains lines from an 1875 poem stating ''I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.
I know it's their job to report the facts ... but in emphasizing these two details, it almost seems as though they are idealizing this guy, positioning him as a noble, defiant anti-hero, whether they mean to or not.
I'm talking mostly about reports I've seen on TV, but here's a written excerpt with a similar tone ...
---------------------------------------
McVeigh Executed for Oklahoma City Bombing
By Arthur Spiegelman
Reuters
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (June 11) - Silent and unrepentant and staring into a television camera that beamed his execution back to the city he devastated, Timothy McVeigh was put to death Monday for the bombing that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.
The man who committed the worst act of terrorism on American soil left behind a defiant written testament -- a handwritten copy of a famous 19th Century poem, ''Invictus'', in which crippled poet William Ernest Henley declares, ''I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.''
--------------------------------------------
The article's not quite as bad as the TV reports, but it just seems that by hyping McVeigh's final scene like this -- like it's a movie for crying out loud -- they're encouraging other would-be martyrs. The way the reporters keep saying "He died with his eyes open" in the same tone they might say "He died with his boots on" strikes me as wrong somehow.
posted on June 11, 2001 12:37:05 PM new
Too bad also, that the meaning of Henley's poem has been distorted by
McVeigh to advance his agenda after committing such horrific carnage. Of course, if the death penalty had not been used, he would not have been able to malign the meaning of Henley's good poem.
posted on June 11, 2001 12:42:14 PM new
Yeah, and if he hadnt used the death penalty of 168 innocent people to further his cause, some of those babies would have grown up to enjoy reading poems themselves, right?
[ edited by hepburn on Jun 11, 2001 12:43 PM ]
posted on June 11, 2001 12:57:08 PM new
spazmodeous
Maybe you should clarify the intent of your thread. If you only want to discuss McVeigh without mentioning the death penalty,
I will have no other comment to make.
posted on June 11, 2001 12:59:46 PM new
Following the example, helping to idealizing this guy, positioning him as a noble, defiant anti-hero, whether he means to or not.
posted on June 11, 2001 01:14:42 PM new
I agree spazmodeus (sp?). It seems that this is being turned into a debate about the death penalty and it seems too that McVeigh has achieved exactly what he intended.
Rather than discussing the victims and hearing what they have to say..remembering those who are now lost and the many who are still living but whose lives will never be the same..people are more interested in McVeigh and his "poem" and whether or not the death penalty should exist.
I got up this morning at 6:30..not so that I could "see" him executed..but because I felt a sense of duty as an American and as a human being, to be there if not in person, in spirit, to support the victims and their families. I cried only once. Not when they announced that McVeigh died at 7:14..not during the speeches made by the media, the warden..the witnesses...not even the president...I cried when Fox News said at about 3 min. after 7:00 that their would be 168 seconds of silence for the victims and then for 168 seconds they rolled the names and ages and the pictures of each of the victims that had died on that day. I cried for 168 seconds.
To me..this is all that should have been said. Some said that in saying nothing..McVeigh had the last word..I dont think so...I think these 168 seconds of silence were the last words..and if not..they should have been.
posted on June 11, 2001 01:22:24 PM new
I had to turn the news channel off - they are making me sick. On one of the channels they said, "Are you asking yourself why all the McVeigh coverage? ....... instead, ask yourself why so many people are watching it". I've had mixed feelings on the death penalty - but after watching these people on t.v. describe how the room looked, what kind of clothes McVeigh had on, what kind of look he had in his eye, how he took two breaths, how he had his glassy eyes open it makes me think we're no better than that sick SOB, McVeigh.
edited to say sorry, Spaz - I won't say anything more concerning the death penalty.
[ edited by bobbi355 on Jun 11, 2001 01:24 PM ]
posted on June 11, 2001 01:33:54 PM new
I caught the noon news reports, that was enough for me. I switched off that Extra TV show a little while ago because it was so ga-ga over McVeigh.
Personally I'd rather see reports about how the survivors are getting on with their lives. Only in stories of that sort do you truly see the evil in what McVeigh did. It shows you how hollow all his bravado and defiance really was when compared to the enduring, lifelong pain he inflicted on his victims -- the ones who survived anyway. All the talk of his "flinty stare" and "the face of evil" and "he died with his eyes open" becomes just so much bulls*** in that context.
posted on June 11, 2001 01:40:37 PM new
I grieve for the victims and their families.
The pain, suffering, and loss must be overwhelming.
I hope today's events will give them closure.
However,
I haven't read the paper.
I won't turn on the news.
If it weren't for reading this thread, I wouldn't know as much as I do.
Somethings I can have a healthy debate on.
Spaz, I respect your opinions so much.
I miss you when you disappear!
I learn a Great deal from you and I hope we can revisit some of these issues again.
Right now I just feel like "he" monopolizes too much of the conversation.
I can't give "him" the satisfaction.
To figure out how I really feel about all of this would take more time than an animal like that deserves.
posted on June 11, 2001 03:12:30 PM new
It is sad how the media uses a story for ratings. This might go on for days or weeks. I was more content watching about Jenna Bush. Like another poster said they will try to make a movie too. All this for a few dollars.
posted on June 11, 2001 04:07:19 PM new
Spaz, if he was given the drugs in krs' posting, Pavulon is a paralyzing agent. If his eyelids were open when it took effect, they would stay open.
posted on June 11, 2001 04:13:28 PM new
That's an interesting point, Snowy. They're presenting it as though his eyes-open exit is evidence of a steely, cold-hearted resolve. One reporter who watched the execution made a point of saying "he didn't even blink." I guess it would lose some of its theatric value if they were to reveal that his "defiant" stare was just an effect of the drugs.
posted on June 11, 2001 04:53:09 PM new
I didn't watch the news today. I seem to watch it less and less lately.
It's like that plastic food they use in commercials so the hot lights won't melt it.
It looks better than the real thing sometimes but there is nothing of substance behind it.
I knew he was going to be executed today but I saw no need to listen to people who liked watching that sort of thing. (sometimes these reporters give me the creeps)
I stayed in my studio made pots and thought about all the death and destruction one confused young man could cause in this world.
(and cried too)
I don't find joy in anyones death but when I think about what living torment a mind must be under to do such a thing I think maybe I know why he finally asked his lawyers to stop fighting for him. It was time to go.
There may be other angry confused sorts who will try and make a hero out of him but I think in the end history will paint him as the pitiful twisted,tormented souless creature that he was.
posted on June 11, 2001 05:25:25 PM new
I cried today too.
I cried for the child that the man had been.
Once, he was a little boy. He probably liked the same things all little boys like, and there were people who loved him, and people he loved.
We have no way of knowing when his world got all twisted up. But surely once ... he was just another little boy ...
I've shed my share of tears for the victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing .. and for other tragedies we've seen and heard about ... but today, because so many were cheering his death, I cried for the little boy he used to be.
posted on June 11, 2001 05:40:51 PM new
Our local paper (admittedly a small paper that comes out but three days each week) carried today a story about the significant decline in militia groups/activity in our area since the Oklahoma City bombing. The paper in the big city near us carried an article of some sort on the killing today; I didn't read it. It was accompanied by a listing of the folks killed in Oklahoma. Very sad stuff.
One year after Waco, I participated in a memorial for the men, women and children (including US agents) killed there; we weren't allowed to mourn their loss in peace. Neither will it be possible for those who despair (for whatever reason) of the killing of Mr. McVeigh be able to mourn peacefully.
(Damn, I had a point in there somewhere but somehow in trying to avoid debating capital punishment, I lost my way... this is just all so depressing. Reminds me of why I prefer not to watch the news...)
posted on June 11, 2001 10:59:14 PM new
Oh get over it. Most people don't close their eyes when they die. The man's eyes rolled into the back of his head. There. Was that better? And if that "dead eye" tibit had not been shared, would this thread even exist?
If we (the dreaded media) did not bring these stories to you, the consuming masses, what, pray tell, would you have to discuss in RL or on message boards? Why, your lives would be so boring and incomplete!
Don't bash the media. Look inward. We feed the public's insatiable desire for information that they would not even have, were it not for the 1st Amendment and the freedom of the press to ask the "tough" questions so many seem to abhor.
posted on June 12, 2001 09:32:47 AM new
Budaizum wrote:
"If we (the dreaded media) did not bring these stories to you, the consuming masses, what, pray tell, would
you have to discuss in RL or on message boards? Why, your lives would be so boring and incomplete! "
Didn't watch and my life is just fine thank you for asking.
"Don't bash the media. Look inward."
I did look inward I do it all the time. There I found that the while I like the "News" many of the reporters like to troll the scene of the tragedy hoping to wring out some last shred of emotions from the victims for
the 5 o'clock broadcast and this really disturbs me.
"Ma'am how does it make you feel seeing your toddler being pulled out from under that truck?"
Nothing personal to you Badaizum but I have friends that work at the tv station that I no longer watch and they have expressed the same concerns with the direction it has been going. Unfortunately none of them are in a high enough position to do anything about it.
I don't mind the "tough" questions asked when there is a news worthy reason.
There is the tendency as one of my friends who works at the local newsstation put it to
"crawl out on the casket to get a better shot of the grieving widow ," that makes me think they are not always out to answer the tough questions but to ofton the nasty mean and morbid ones.
But that is just one person's opinion, so take it for what it is worth as I did yours.
posted on June 12, 2001 09:53:25 AM new
Thank-you kazoo. No matter what his crime, this person was still a human being, and I appreciate you seeing that in McVeigh.
