Executing The Innocent

I just started reading David Grann's New Yorker piece, which everyone is talking about. I was delaying because I'm an old fogey, who actually enjoys holding print products, like books and magazines. I'm not even that far in and I'm horrified. The worst part about this is that, like a lot of reporters who've sniffed around death row cases, I knew this was coming. You do the math on the death penalty, especially in a place like Texas, and it's clear that the state is almost certainly in the business of killing innocent people.

Don't take that the wrong way--this piece is beautifully reported, and I'm not taking anything away from Grann. It's just that a lot of us knew a story like this would one day hit. Knowing it, of course, doesn't make you any less horrified as you behold the details.

I want to circle back to our conversation on media, and why I reject the notion that sinister forces are manipulating people into consuming McNews. This piece is on the web, and free to anyone who'd like to see it. I'm sure the New Yorker is doing everything in their power to promote it. Andrew's blog, one of the most read on the net, has pinged it several times. Furthermore, the New Yorker is owned by a company that is synonymous with the MSM.

If people really wanted to know what was going on Texas, what's been going on in Texas for years, it really isn't that hard, especially in this era, to find out. But we pick our priorities. We make decisions about which of our notions we're going to challenge, and which ones we're going to let stand.

Again, it's not because we're evil--there are real reasons why people make these choices. But people have to be responsible for what their government does. It isn't wrong to say that the citizens of this country are responsible for every innocent person who is executed. The people have to be responsible for the government they elect, and the media they support. More to the point, the people ultimately will be held responsible. There is no way around that.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2009/09/executing-the-innocent/24393/