Hawker News

Fort Hood attacker's execution by firing squad will be livestreamed

bbc.com

106 pointsby mo706152 comments

thomassmith65[8 comments hidden]
A quick web search¹ shows these as the only other nations that still hold public executions: Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Somalia.

Those aren't places whose approach to justice the US should emulate. Civilized governments did away with public execution a century ago²

In fact, one argument I recently have used in support of the war with Iran is that the Islamic Republic still holds public executions.

¹ https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-where-public-e...

² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_execution

steve-atx-7600[2 comments hidden]
Yes. In Iran they routinely kill enemies of the regime in public and/or hang them from cranes for display. I can’t fathom the folks that are currently the in crowd elites. I’d rather be dead than support a dystopian shit hole.
enaaem[hidden]
Would you go to war against them?
ahartmetz[hidden]
Well, you know Trump likes dictators and other authoritarians and would quite obviously like to be one himself. That's his style.
rsynnott[4 comments hidden]
Also, I don't think they televise executions. Actually, beside Ceaușescu, I'm not sure there has ever been a televised execution. Televised executions are primarily a device used in science fiction to highlight that a society is _extremely_ fucked up (they tend to show up in alternate histories involving modern Nazi Germany, say), rather than, er, a real thing. Wtf, America?
rachkovsky[2 comments hidden]
I remember seeing hanging of Saddam Hussein on TV in America.
gus_massa[hidden]
IIRC it was a "leaked" video after the event, not a live coverage.
credit_guy[hidden]
Just for clarity, Ceausescu’s execution was not streamed live. It was recorded and shown on TV the same day, but when it was shown the announcer read the dry statement that they (Ceausescu and wife) were tried, found guilty, sentenced to death, and the execution carried out, and then the footage was shown. Just like that. Very out of the blue.
dzonga[3 comments hidden]
if you've read enough history you know the authoritarian path the u.s is headed down towards.

this public execution buys implied consent to execute 'enemies' of the state. it also forces state governors aligned with the president to livestream executions of those on death row as 'deterrent'. then later go execute enemies of the state.

however as most people know through projects like the innocence project - some people on deathrow are innocent but are victims of racism etc.

quantified[2 comments hidden]
This will fire up the jihadis and encourage the cycle. Very different than the obscurity into which the mastermind of the World Trade Center truck bombing was thrown.
kyboren[hidden]
Aren't they already fired up about this, that, and the other? They don't seem to need much excuse. And the US kills terrorists all the time.

Anyway, I don't think US policy should revolve around how jihadis react, regardless of whether or not livestreamed executions are good policy.

techteach00[8 comments hidden]
We're going down a dark path. An uncivilized one. It will eventually touch people far more innocent than the criminal in this case.
krapp[5 comments hidden]
>We're going down a dark path. An uncivilized one. It will eventually touch people far more innocent than the criminal in this case.

You need to update your priors a fair bit. The government has already sent innocent people to prison camps and gunned them down in the street.

King-Aaron[3 comments hidden]
Trump today is spouting some big surprise coming to do with Project 2025. These people explicitly spelled out the direction they would take the country with this document, and so many people chose not to believe them.

The plan was always to create a fascist authoritarian state and yet people are still only just waking up to it.

krapp[2 comments hidden]
>yet people are still only just waking up to it

Some people, maybe. But Trump already had four years in office, he and his base were known quantities, their beliefs were broadcast all over the media and social media. Almost everyone who voted for him knew exactly what he was about, don't let them tell you otherwise.

skeledrew[hidden]
It would seem the adage "better the enemy you know" doesn't always pan out. I'll try to not entertain the possibility that a significant portion of the population is on board with all this.
steve-atx-7600[hidden]
To be fair Trump has done so much crazy shit that it leaves most people in a fog of chaos. I’m ashamed I forgot about the ICE tragedies already…been working too much lately. I’m most angry with people that stood by and did nothing to stop him when they might have had a chance. Whose career is so important that they’d rather keep it and live in these times with these tragedies unfolding.
TitaRusell[hidden]
There's nothing in "the Handmaid's tale" that American Christian conservatives don't agree with.
xdennis[hidden]
Why should people act civilized towards the uncivilized. He murdered 14 people (people often say 13 because the don't count the baby). Why should any humanity be shown towards him?

You don't defeat your enemies by being softer than them. You win by being harder than them.

trashface[hidden]
I recall the old Doctor Who episode "vengeance on varos" was my first exposure as a kid to the then sci-fi concept of executions streamed for - the public benefit, I suppose? Really disturbing episode, rewatched it a few years back and yeah - still very disturbing. Not a good episode in other respects either, and it was harshly criticized at the time.

And now my country is implementing that for real.

DanHulton[hidden]
> "People need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things."

Why? Seriously, what is the point of demonstrating "serious consequences" for the crime of "military personnel mass-shooting other military personnel"? Is this a regular problem that needs to be corrected for? Do you think anyone in their right mind _doesn't_ already understand that there will be serious consequences for such an action? And if they're not in their right mind, exactly how do you think this will improve deterrence?

What an utterly boneheaded statement.

skeledrew[hidden]
The apparently inexhaustible potential for devolution never ceases to amaze me.
buildsjets[hidden]
And so the Trump Administration joins ISIS and Al-Quaeda in the “Livestreams Executions” club.
_justinfunk[4 comments hidden]
I'll risk some downvotes by expressing my pet view that if the government is going to use capital punishment - it should be public.

The US is a representative democracy and "we" have delegated the monopolistic use of violence to the government.

If the government is going to capitally punish someone, it ought to be done in full view of the people from whom the power to do so derives.

That is the opposite of a tyranny.

tencentshill[hidden]
No one needs to see the actual brains splattered on the wall in 4k. We already have witnesses and proof for the entire process. It's really really not healthy to view that stuff.
iAMkenough[2 comments hidden]
In that same line of thinking, we should have public access to view our internment camps and the way we treat the humans inside.
_justinfunk[hidden]
No argument here. All aspects of the government should be open to public scrutiny.
expedition32[5 comments hidden]
The last public execution in my country ended up such bloody debacle that the crowd ended up attacking the officials. The death penalty was quickly abolished after that.
hexapus[4 comments hidden]
Would be nice if the citizens of the US had that kind of fire in their bones.
blackqueeriroh[2 comments hidden]
Fascinating you think they don’t
hexapus[hidden]
They let it get this far, but I truly hope they disprove my intuition in this regard.
euroderf[hidden]
One point of suburbia is to so disperse the population that riots are neither likely nor feasible
mrlonglong[hidden]
Barbarians.
SpicyLemonZest[5 comments hidden]
It’s incredible how dedicated Hegseth is to being evil. So many regime officials are merely greedy or suck-ups, and he’s out here manufacturing completely pointless evil that Trump did not ask for and will not benefit from.
throwaway81523[3 comments hidden]
There are conflicting reports about Hegseth possibly running for president. So this may be a campaign stunt.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2028-election/pete-hegseth-...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/08/29/hegseth-de...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/hes-doing-a-fantastic-j...

SpicyLemonZest[2 comments hidden]
Hegseth has maintained a consistent, principled position for his entire tenure that the military needs to be visibly murdering people. He routinely posts snuff footage where they murder purported “narcoterrorists”. I really think it’s wrong to postulate any deeper explanation; he’s just an evil man who prefers to do bad things rather than good ones.
lifestyleguru[hidden]
When you put a man into a suit you only see his head without the tattoos, and still don't see what's inside their head.
ButlerianJihad[hidden]
Plutarch Heavensbee accurately distilled the top-down strategy in this regard: https://youtu.be/bHSWCDqw_n0?si=lYiIKStXnNgxis38
treetalker[hidden]
Now where did we put that superior intelligence? It was just here a second ago …
ChrisArchitect[hidden]
Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50011771
bjourne[4 comments hidden]
Absolutely despicable and very ominous sign about the return of barbarism. I hope the new American pope protests. Turning an execution into entertainment is not a Christian value.
blooalien[3 comments hidden]
> Turning an execution into entertainment is not a Christian value.

Neither is lying, cheating, stealing, etc, but they seem to do all that stuff (and much more) too. Maybe they're not actually Christians at all? (It's either that, or Christ stood for some really messed up things that I was never told about in church.)

eudamoniac[2 comments hidden]
They're obviously not Christians, but, sin is not evidence against belief. All men are sinners; you can't dismiss someone as "not Christian" because they sin. If they behaved perfectly like Christ they'd be a Saint above the rest.
blooalien[hidden]
Alright, ya got me there... Still though, good Christians at least try to "be more like Christ" rather than take open pride in actively going against everything he supposedly stood for.
SG-[2 comments hidden]
I wonder what streaming CDN will actually allow this on their network?
aceazzameen[hidden]
It would be a shame if that CDN went down and then got blacklisted by the community.
totallygeeky[hidden]
I sincerely hope this is foiled by technical problems and treated as snuff content. A sickening thing to try and encourage people to watch.
lazzlazzlazz[4 comments hidden]
If you don't want to see it, you don't have to. Unfortunate that so many comments here are very interested in limiting other peoples' access to view justice, no matter how grim it is. Again: don't watch if you don't want to.

A fitting end for an utter monster.

ButlerianJihad[hidden]
I unfortunately consume a lot of video news, and it is kind of appalling to me, whatever the channel, whatever the news outlet, whenever they report a serious crime, the entire comment section turns into a bloodthirsty lynch mob that dehumanizes the accused. Not merely the guilty but the accused. And seriously dehumanizing. Like, calling them a monster, because that is not human. Calling them terrible names, denigrating their race, saying they deserve life in prison or death by any means or "justice" at the hands of a mob of prisoners, or if they already met a terrible end, gloating over it and reveling in the misery of a suffering human person.

So the first step to public executions and mob justice is dehumanizing the accused, or the convicted, and making them less than human with our descriptions, like "monster". So perhaps it should be carefully considered about who the real enemy is, and pray for those who do evil; bless those who curse us; ultimately remembering that they are also human, with families, and souls, and feelings.

kennywinker[hidden]
You frame it incorrectly. It’s not about wanting to “limit other peoples’ access” it’s about this being not something that is ok to broadcast. Firing squad is not something a civilized society should do, it will make a martyr out of him, and broadcasting it debases us all. If you want us to become ISIS that’s your position - don’t frame mine as censorious.
lopsotronic[hidden]
I agree with the sentiment. The problem I have here is not "inappropriate content" per se but what the gesture is intended to communicate to the nation: get accustomed to public displays of the state's monopoly on violence.

SecDef has said that the public should watch this execution, by the way, not that they can. That is a very specific and deliberate thing they're communicating.

I got the same willies from watching the old (arguably propaganda) show COPS, but to a vastly lesser extent. COPS had other stuff happening besides people being shot in the face.

Now, if you're of the ideological view that a nation's population should be pre-brutalized to prepare them for state violence, then this action makes all the sense in the world. I would humbly remind people of this opinion, however, that state-proposed programs like this never end well. The population inevitably points their newly recalibrated moral compass at the closest target available: their neighbors. We pre-brutalize soldiers before we drop them in with enemy, but pre-brutalizing doctors, cops, teachers . . . is almost unfailingly unwise in a national context. Very good at breaking a nation though.

erelong[hidden]
While I'm kind of against capital punishment because innocents are sometimes wrongly condemned and it costs more and such,

if the guy really committed a terrorist attack killing 10 people in betrayal of his fellow military personnel, I passively don't find a public execution via firing squad to be any more barbaric than the crime he inflicted upon others

Public executions are said to build community via promoting an open commitment to justice, to encourage transparency in government, and mostly to act as a deterrent to crime.

I have not seen the comments say why public executions went away in many places, which was in part due to the potential of crowds to devolve into riots and spectacle. If this public execution ends up having that kind of effect, they might for practical reasons end up being discontinued again.