Thoughts On the Street Coverage of the Peterson Verdict

Normally, I would avoid posting any thread of this nature, because of the lurid sensationalism involved, the endless media circus surrounding it, and what have you.

But something got to me today that reaffirmed some of my worst hunches about the latter-day triumph of humanity's reptilian core.

It's easy to say, as with most capital murder cases, that the perpetrator is vile scum, deserves his fate, and strictly undeserving of our sympathy or any modicum of good will.

I won't argue that. He IS scum. He DOES deserve scorn and unyielding contempt and bottomless condemnation. He represents the worst the species has to offer. What's to defend when it comes to the monstrous reptile at HIS core?

But.

The cheering.

The elation.

Does dancing in the streets for the impending death of a monster reaffirm our humanity and basic goodness, as these happy minions would like to believe?

Or does cheering the death sentence bring us one step closer to his deep, dark level of reveling in the debasement of another's life, even the life of a sickly scumbag?

Do we deny our own humanity as an emotional trade-off for welcoming the fate he gets for denying another human being hers? Or do we celebrate an illusion of superiority?

I do not claim to fall on one side or the other so easily.

If I were Laci's brother or father or uncle... I can't say I wouldn't want Scott Peterson to die at my own hand. I can't deny I may very well dance on his grave.

I can't deny a sliver of empathy for the cheering throngs.

But I also can't deny something stuck in my craw with those happy, laughing, exultant people, and made me deeply ill-at-ease in my soul.

I am not sure we can make that trade-off with our humanity fully successful, to satisfy a lust for vengeance that will exact a greater price than we can pay. The trade-off shortchanges us every time.

I am not sure.

But it sure as hell made me wonder about the state of humanity and the spiritual health of America's rank-and-file 'upstanding' citizens.

And it made me wonder just how far removed from a beast like Scott Peterson they, and we, truly are.

I am not sure.

I haven't been watching TV. I'm doing a 16 hr. shift.

I have avoided the news like the plague for over a month, but I caught this image today and it hasn't left me.

I am anti-death penalty even for him.

Thank God, he got the death penalty, said the cheering crowd.

I didn't want to see the cheering and dancing. He's probably guilty as hell, but I hate to see people cheering death. They can dance all night, it won't bring back Lacy or Connor.

It just bothered me the same way.

We can both condemn him and not sink to his depths. Cheering for his death makes us too much like him, too close to the abyss.

Even if you believe in the death penalty, you should not cheer it. The fact that such a terrible crime has been committed is sobering enough. Every crime that is committed is a rent in the fabric of society. How can the murder of anyone be anything but sad.

dancing with the darkness.

All the while tilting at windmills like South Park and Beavis and Butthead.

the exact same kinds of murder takes place across this country and no one cares but those involved. they don`t get the prime time movie of the week treatment. i for one could give a shit less about the whole thing. the guy was a greedy stupid fuck who deserves to be put in a box for the rest of his life.

But I caught this while surfing, and I have to say, my post is about the larger issue of our collective humanity than it is just the latest media circus trial.

This story had my rapt attention from the beginning, and I admit, I love to hate that guy for (most likely) murdering his pretty wife who seemed so extremely nice & had a great smile, pregnant with an undoubtedly good-looking baby boy. What a perfect family they "might" have been.
That jerk ruined SO many lives. Let's say it together, and be done! ..whew, let's move on.

Some people acted like chimps escaped from the zoo, when they reacted to the verdicts. The media fed their addiction to a compelling story.

(other than in self defense) then where is the difference between us? And cheering this killing damages the soul. I also find it deeply troubling.

The reptile lurks in all of us. We, all of us, are not far removed from Scott Peterson, we are brothers in humanity (and that's why I also abhor the expression "beast". He is a fellow human being no matter what he has done). The veneer of morals and religion and common sense and upbringing is very, very thin. That's why we should be very careful not to damage it, ever.

Thou shalt not kill.

Period.

I don't think that is necessarily a negative connotation. After all, we are animals, no more, and no less. Being a beast can be scientifically neutral, and not always a debasing put-down.

Sometimes I marvel at the dignity, noblity, and devotion of beasts.

when morals are a veneer.

That's my main objection to it.We as a whole should be just a little better than the worst among us and that should preclude us from state sanctioned execution.

As far as those who are executed I am hardly shedding tears over them; they often deserve even worse, but these public displays of glee over a death sentence sicken me also.

The scene outside the prison when Karla Faye Tucker was executed several years ago was especially disgusting to me.There was a young, obviously intoxicated young woman on some guy's shoulders boogying down like it was Spring Break at Padre Island and some moron holding a sign that read, "To Hell With An Injection, Use A Pickaxe."
Truly nauseating.

about the death penalty. It diminishes all of us. I can see that the
people cheering in the street want to fight back and strike out at the murderer. They want to express their hate and frustration so that Peterson knows about it. And they enjoyed reveling in their hatred.

When the process gets to the execution there is nothing but an emptiness after the deed has been done. It fixes nothing for the living.

beginning of the trial? Could they have framed the story such that they could convince the people he was innocent? Accent SCott's positive and downplay his negatives? Bring in pro-Scott experts night after night to proclaim his innocence? I absolutely think they could changed public opinion on this case, if that had been their predilection. It's all in the presentation.....

I paid as little attention as anyone possibly could to this trial. But tonight I was watching MSNBC and they were doing a montage of Laci's pics to music. It was rather strange, IMHO.

and continued to convict him 24 hours a day ever since, without any hard evidence. I'm sure he was a scum ball, but don't you have to PROVE someone is guilty before you kill them?

Cable news really needs some rules & reform and an effective watchdog for standards & procedure.

you succeeded in not learning anything about Scott or Laci Peterson!

You were never interested in this trial from the start, so why get involved now?

Cable news convicted a man of a crime, period.
They're working on Koffie Annan right now.
Evidence? Who needs evidence.
Look at what they did to John Kerry's service record.
They convicted Saddam Hussein of WMD's.
They convicted Gary Condit of murder.
Etc. Etc.

I never did care about the Peterson case, why should I? I do care about the manipulation of the press for political operations though.

TV = The New Opium

A damning indictment on American culture...

Mankind has always been a bloodthirsty beast, and sad to say, will remain one for a long while. Back in the nineteenth century, hangings were well attended events, with much hooting and hollering, and the requisite picnic baskets and hip flasks.

In the middle ages, you had public tortures and killings well attended, complete with vendors of all goods, "pre game" shows to warm up the audience, and apparently it was rated G, as many children were brought by their parents.

And this isn't limited to modern man. There were the gladiator shows put on by the Romans, public stonings in the Middle East, graphic, torturous, public death spectacles in ancient China, and so on and so forth.

While public execution has long been regarded as an entertainment, it's main purpose is to drive home the point that there are consequences for one's actions. Sad to say, the vast majority of public executions didn't deter crime at all.

So all in all, this is really to be expected. The crowd still wants blood and circuses, and since we no longer condone public executions, we are given the next best thing, big, public trials with which to amuse the masses. And it works, it diverts the masses attention away from the real news of the world, and instead focuses all of that attention and energy on an event that is really meaningless in the greater scope of things. Scott Peterson gets a public trial, attended by the requisite media circus, meanwhile, Bushco and his gang of corporatistas are driving this country over a cliff while everyone looks the other direction. A time honored tactic that still fools the masses. Sad, isn't it.

I'm thinking soon. It will be hailed as an innovative way to show us that crime doesn't pay. But advertisers do.

could be the next form of reality TV.

He predicted there would be one every week on the 50 yard line at halftime on Monday Night Football.

Someone was trashing Carlin, recently. I overheard it when I was concentrating on something else. They were saying he'd completely lost it and was entirely out-to-lunch and irrelevant. It was my intention to go to bat for him, but I never got back on-track with it.

Carlin was brilliant on Russerts show, recently. He is the sort of social critic this country should revere, not trash.

Does anybody know who was dissing Carlin?

With the gleeful people, and you are right.

Hence my lifelong misanthropy.

Finally.

I ran into my boss's (also a good friend/mentor) office so she & I could hear it live in the radio. We were surprised that when the verdict was read, we both started to cry. Not for McVeigh, but for the whole bloody horror of the bombing and the hollow meaninglessness of all that followed. There was no relief. There certainly was no joy.

and I am not so sure that Scott Peterson killed his wife. I also think that he has a good case for appeal. (1.) all the pre-trial hysteria - there was even a TV movie about the case; (2.) Mark Geragos is a brillian attorney but he got sidetracked early in the case trying to defend Peterson and also being involved in the Michael Jackson case. (3.) sorry to say this because I think that police officers do an outstanding job but this is another case where they had someone in custody and 'massaged' the circumstantial evidence to fit the crime. Just because someone (man or woman) is unfaithful does not make them a murder.

I wasn't watching but had the TV on in the background when the verdict was announced. heard the CHEERING drowning out the reporter. inspired the following:

From....

THE CHRONICLES OF BOSH:
A Fictitious History of the Occupancy of Prince George, Part the First.


Mister Bosh hears the cheers

Missus Bosh, they're crying for his death!
Should I ask? Insist? Should I pull the switch?

Live on the TV. Death.

You could stitch up a quick hood.

("Executioner In Chief" over the pocket, perhaps?)

Nothing too pointy though. Or, a mask?

Missus Bosh suffers a historical shudder.
Her foot twitches towards the shade of a brake.

Cautious cranberries, Mister Bosh!
You're not in Texas anymore.
And there are multitudes awaiting your freedoms.

Certainly not news, drones and bleats, though muted.

A death sentence will not kill the story. No, not
While the story still kills the story of the mounting deaths.
Not while the story still kills the story of the unimaginable maiming...

Were his victims more cruelly killed
Than our soldiers sacrificed to folly?

Were his victims more cruelly killed
Than the murdered city of Fallujah?

Why are the soldiers sacrificed to folly
Hidden from view, their names, their number feared?

Why are the dead in the murdered city of Fallujah
Willfully ignored? Had they been blond perhaps...

Mister Bosh fingers through his favorite executions,
Just a bit lasciviously. (He knows all the names!)
Humming Cole Porter's "You're The Top."

Now you're dead, and I pulled the lever.
Now you're dead, aren't I deadly clever?

Missus Bosh has a nicotine pang.
And almost, almost, feels guilty about it.