Bring Snacks, Fire Up the Grill, Somebody's Getting Executed! Welcome to CCN

 Apparently, Cowlitz County News has stumbled upon a new community event: Execution Day! Bring your snacks, fire up the barbecue, request the day off work, and gather the family around the television to watch a human being die. Don't forget to RSVP, because nothing says wholesome family entertainment quite like a state-sanctioned execution with a side of potato salad.

I wish I were making this up.

CCN posted about Pete Hegseth announcing that the public would be able to watch the scheduled execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major convicted of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people. Hasan committed a horrific crime, and nobody needs to pretend otherwise. The victims and their families deserve justice, and people are entitled to their opinions about capital punishment.

Somewhere between supporting the death penalty and planning a watch party, however, a few people seem to have misplaced the plot.

Lisa Trotter announced she was bringing snacks. Someone else suggested a barbecue. Others talked about taking time off work to watch, while another bright idea was to charge people for a front-row seat to the execution and donate the proceeds to veterans. Apparently, the entertainment industry has been looking in the wrong direction all these years. Forget reality television. Just give the people a livestream and a coupon for ribs.

Joel McEntire helpfully announced, “I should be free that day.” Well, thank goodness we have the scheduling department covered. Pick Me Keenan Harvey also had to insert himself into the conversation about pay-per-view executions, because apparently no CCN comment section is complete until Keenan has made sure everyone knows he exists. Somewhere, a spotlight just switched on, and I suspect he heard it.

Seriously, though, when did watching someone die become a recreational activity? Is there a loyalty card? Watch five executions and get the sixth one free? Will there be themed merchandise? Perhaps CCN can organize a potluck. Everyone brings a dish, and somebody brings the gallows. I hear those are difficult to find at Costco.

Let me make one thing clear. Supporting the death penalty does not automatically make someone bloodthirsty, and not everyone who supports it wants to watch an execution. The issue here is the gleeful anticipation of death as entertainment, along with the hostility directed at people who don't share that enthusiasm. There is a difference between believing someone deserves punishment and acting like their death is the hottest ticket in town. Apparently, that distinction needs to be printed on a very large sign and placed directly above the snack table.

Things got even more ridiculous when Suzy Evans said she agreed with the punishment but did not want to watch someone die. She explained that her Christian beliefs did not include taking pleasure in the death of an enemy. Eric Reicher responded, “It's not a person. It's a demon.” Other commenters took issue with her position, and people who didn't want to watch were mocked or insulted.

Imagine having the audacity to say, “I support justice, but I don't need to watch a human being die for my afternoon entertainment,” only to discover that you're apparently the villain of the Facebook thread. How dare you bring a functioning conscience to a bloodlust convention?

This is where things get particularly entertaining, in the most depressing way possible. CCN and many of its followers are awfully fond of advertising their Christianity and traditional values. Faith seems to come up quite regularly when there's an opportunity to criticize somebody else's behavior. Yet when the conversation turns to gleefully anticipating an execution, suddenly we're discussing snacks, barbecues, and entertainment packages.

Where did all those Christian values go? Did they get left in the church parking lot? Are they on vacation? Did somebody accidentally pack them away with the Christmas decorations?

You don't have to oppose the death penalty to recognize that celebrating somebody's death is a different matter. You don't have to excuse a person's crimes to understand that compassion and accountability can coexist. If your faith teaches you to love your enemies, perhaps organizing a viewing party for their deaths deserves at least a moment of reflection.

I'm not suggesting everyone has to weep for Hasan. I'm suggesting that there is a rather wide stretch of territory between feeling no sympathy for a convicted mass murderer and getting excited about watching him die while deciding what to serve at the barbecue.

Then we get to the treatment of veterans, which takes this discussion from disturbing to downright disgraceful.

Rob Niemiec identified himself as a retired Navy veteran, a two-time Trump voter, and a conservative. He said he didn't want to watch another human being killed and would leave justice to the system and God. Anthony Nims responded with personal insults, called him a coward, questioned his masculinity, and told him to “well fuck you pussy,” while also calling him a traitor.

Apparently, a veteran's service is worthy of respect only until that veteran expresses an opinion somebody doesn't like. Then the patriotism police arrive, complete with a clipboard and an apparently unlimited supply of insults.

The suggestion that a pay-per-view execution could raise money for veterans was another gem. Michael Hayden questioned why veterans should benefit, suggesting they already get plenty. Apparently, all veterans are financially comfortable, nobody struggles after serving, and there is no reason to worry about military families who need help. What a wonderfully convenient little fantasy.

Then there's Michael Hayden, who managed to make the suggestion of raising money for veterans into another opportunity to insult veterans.

Someone suggested charging people to watch the execution and donating the proceeds to veterans. Hayden dismissed the idea, saying he had served 20 years, deployed 12 times, and seen too many “scumbag veterans.”

Well, Michael, that certainly took an interesting turn. Somebody proposes raising money to help veterans, and your response is essentially, “Forget those guys. I've met too many scumbags.”

That's one way to kill a charitable fundraising idea before it gets out of the driveway.

Our opinion? Given the way you've conducted yourself in this discussion, we can't help wondering whether you're speaking from personal experience. That's our interpretation, not a fact about your character, but when someone is this quick to disparage veterans, dismiss their struggles, and attack people for expressing a different opinion, it invites some uncomfortable questions.

You can tell everyone about your 20 years of service and 12 deployments, but that résumé doesn't automatically make every comment you post respectable. Military service deserves respect. It isn't a lifetime membership card that exempts anyone from being judged by their own words and behavior.

Your service history can tell people where you served. What you say and do tells them how you choose to conduct yourself today. Those are two entirely different things.

The whole pay-per-view idea is troubling enough without the suggestion that veterans should be the beneficiaries of a business model built around people's enthusiasm for watching someone die. If the goal is helping veterans, there are plenty of ways to raise money that don't require turning an execution into the Super Bowl of human suffering.

Speaking of entertainment, I genuinely wonder whether some people have watched so many revenge movies and crime dramas that they've forgotten the difference between a fictional villain getting what he deserves and an actual human being being put to death. In the movies, the music swells, the bad guy gets his comeuppance, and the audience leaves satisfied. Real life isn't a screenplay, and an execution isn't a season finale.

Perhaps Hollywood has convinced people that revenge is a personality trait and cruelty is a sign of strength. Maybe every movie needs a hero, a villain, and a satisfying ending, so people have started treating real life like a script. Unfortunately, there is no director yelling “cut” when the entertainment is over.

What concerns me is the sheer number of people who seem excited by the prospect of watching a human being die, followed by their eagerness to attack anyone who isn't. We have people talking about snacks and barbecues, people taking the day off work, and people suggesting that those who don't want to watch are weak or cowardly.

When did basic human reluctance to watch another person die become something to ridicule? Since when did empathy become a character flaw? Are we handing out participation trophies for enthusiasm about executions now?

This is also why we need more readily available mental health resources in our communities. To be clear, I am not diagnosing strangers based on Facebook comments. Supporting capital punishment is not a mental health diagnosis, and neither is making an offensive remark. I am talking about a broader culture in which cruelty gets attention, empathy gets mocked, and people seem to compete to see who can express the most contempt.

Mental health care should be accessible before people reach a crisis, not treated as an afterthought. We need healthier ways to deal with anger, hostility, and conflict. We should be encouraging people to seek help when they need it, not creating a public culture in which dehumanizing others is rewarded with likes, laughs, and applause.

The Fort Hood shooting was horrific. Thirteen people lost their lives, and countless others were affected. The victims and their families deserve to be remembered for the lives that were taken and the suffering that followed. Their tragedy should not be reduced to a backdrop for somebody's execution-day entertainment.

Justice should be about accountability. It should not require a concession stand.

The most ironic part of this entire discussion is watching people who regularly promote Christianity, patriotism, and traditional values gleefully discuss an execution while insulting veterans and ridiculing people who don't want to watch. Pick Me Keenan Harvey has to put in his two cents, Joel McEntire makes sure everyone knows he's available, and other commenters are apparently ready to clear their schedules for the big event.

Somebody should tell them that being morally outraged by somebody else's crimes doesn't automatically make every reaction to those crimes morally admirable.

You can support the death penalty. You can believe Hasan deserves the punishment. You can believe justice must be served. None of those positions requires you to treat an execution like your favorite team just won the Super Bowl.

If your Christian values disappear the moment you get an opportunity to revel in somebody else's death, perhaps it's time to revisit those values. If your patriotism requires you to insult veterans who disagree with you, perhaps it's time to revisit that, too. A flag, a Bible, and a military résumé are not magical objects that turn every ugly comment into a noble act.

Justice is not entertainment. Christianity is not a bumper sticker. Patriotism is not permission to bully veterans. Empathy is not weakness.

Maybe the next time CCN's crowd starts congratulating itself on its moral superiority, somebody should remind them that character isn't measured by how much compassion we show people we like. It's measured by how much humanity we retain when discussing people we despise.

As for me, I won't be organizing a barbecue around somebody else's execution. I have better things to do, and frankly, I can think of a thousand more appealing reasons to take a day off work.

Apparently, that makes me the odd one out in a community where some people seem to think the ultimate expression of justice is a front-row seat, a bag of chips, and a comfortable place to watch someone die.

What a time to be alive. Just not, apparently, for the person they're all so excited to watch die.