"It's better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one." -Voltaire

Recently the TV news has been consumed by the execution of Troy Davis, a man convicted of killing a police officer in 1989 although there was no physical evidence - no DNA and no weapon - and although the prosecution relied primarily only on the testimony of nine witnesses, seven of witch have recanted over the years citing police coercion, the execution still took place on Wednesday.

The story quickly became international news with when the Twitter hashtag "#TROYDAVIS" became a trending topic late Tuesday evening, bringing in opinions and views from all over the world on the execution. The ACLU called for action Wednesday morning by asking citizens to urge their state to abolish the death penalty - going as far as dedicating part of their website to an internet protest allowing citizens to petition their state to abolish the death penalty. 

Ironically, death and the death penalty were sources of controversy in the previous week. During CNN and NBC sponsored Republican Presidential debates, people actually cheered for death and the death penalty.

Seems that WE need a conversation that goes broader than Troy Davis and beyond the death penalty.

When Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul was asked if an uninsured 30-year-old man has a serious (obviously unexpected) accident and is in a hospital, who should pay for his treatment, he answered that citizens should "take personal responsibility". Wolf Blitzer asked for clarification and asked if the Congressman was suggesting that he would let the patient die rather than having government foot the bill - to this the crowd cheered, a few "YEA!" shouts could be heard. Imagine that, in the United States on national television, people cheering for the idea of death.

And it didn't end there.

A few days later another Republican Presidential candidate, Rick Perry was asked a question about his 234 executions carried out throughout his governorship in Texas and again the crowd cheered at the staggering figure.

The blogs erupted in response to the cheering of the executions figures with THINKPROGRESS bringing to light an ongoing investigation in Perry's state about the execution of a possibly innocent man.

A Facebook page even went up following the debate calling Rick Perry "A Texas Serial Killer"



What's most striking about these stories regarding death and capital punishment is the fact that - just like that - it's no longer the lead story on the evening news. It's no longer a trending topic on Twitter, no more new "likes" on the Facebook page and Troy Davis doesn't seem to matter anymore.