But Taylor was wrong. In a democracy, the government cannot decide what the people "need to know." That is the responsibility of unfettered, independent news organizations. Every day, these organizations make difficult decisions about what to print, what to air. Do you print a rape victim's name? Do you print classified information about an undercover military operation? Do you print the Pentagon Papers? Sometimes, they make lousy decisions. Tough. That's another cost of living in a country where the government cannot control the free flow of information.

In this case, KQED decided that since the people had authorized their state to kill killers, the people should be able to watch their state kill killers, to see what they had wrought. Don't like it? Don't watch it. Next time a death penalty comes around, vote against it.

LEGALLY, I don't think this is a particularly difficult constitutional issue. The First Amendment is fairly unambiguous about restrictions on the media. And televised capital punishment is no more "cruel or unusual" than untelevised capital punishment. If anything, a television audience protects prisoners from angry executioners who might be tempted to inflict a little extra pain behind closed doors.

But the public execution issue goes beyond legality. It ranges towards the What Kind Of Society Is This? kind of questions that make most of us squirm. Some people fear that videotaped executions will stir up what Time called a "disquieting Dickensian excitement."

To tell the truth, I think they're probably right. I remember the vicious crowd waving signs outside serial killer Ted Bundy's execution--signs of the "Burn, Bundy, Burn" and "Bundy BBQ" variety. Even more than Faces of Death, killing bad guys appeals to our basest instincts. That's why Bernie Goetz became such a hero. That's why Gov. Douglas Wilder (D-VA), an opponent of the death penalty, has decided that his political ambitions would be destroyed by granting clemency to convicts on Death Row.

KQED promises to handle Harris' execution tastefully. But you can't force good taste into people's living rooms. There's nothing anyone can do about the "Gas the Bastard" parties, the "Every Time He Twitches" drinking games, the inward smiles of satisfaction.

Society can be cruel, mainly because the people who form them can be cruel. Alberto Grella beat me up every day in the schoolyard when I was in second grade. And I've got to admit that part of me still wants to rip him to shreds. I don't think that the cruel side of my character would emerge as Robert Alton Harris paid the price for his sins. But it might.

How would you react?

Are you sure?

Michael R. Grunwald '92, editorial chair of The Crimson, swears he was nowhere near Dallas on November 17, 1963.