OPINION
Wednesday, February 7, 2024 • 7
EDITORIAL
Using untested execution method is cruel Execution by nitrogen gas is a cruel and unusual punishment. We have spent the better part of the last three years reading and watching stories on the news of people dying from hypoxia across the globe due to COVID-19. After all of those deaths the state of Alabama used Nitrogen hypoxia an execution method. On Jan 25, 58-year-old Kenneth Eugene Smith, a death row inmate in Alabama convicted of being a hit man, was killed. His method of execution was by breathing in nitrogen gas through a mask. Prior to Smith’s execution The U.N. came out with statements saying that Alabama should stop the execution and any future use of nitrogen, because it could amount to torture. Smith’s lawyers asked the supreme court to stop his execution until he can appeal it due to his previous botched execution being cruel and unusual. In a 6-3 ruling against Smith, Justice Sotomayor said in her dissent, “Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before.” She goes on to say, “This Court yet again permits Alabama to experiment . . . with a human life,”.” This is the first time the method has been used in an execution. In America, we are used to death by lethal injection and electrocution,
Tj Favela/The Collegian
even more rarely death by firing squad. Many people are pro-death penalty when someone is legitimately sentenced to death, and a known method of execution is used.
But when experimental methods of execution are used, like in this case, it turns them and those already on the fence about it against the death penalty. People have become more in-
clined to stick with life in prison and eliminate the death penalty. The Eighth Amendment to the U.S Constitution states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and
unusual punishments inflicted.” The question we are still asking today is what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment? What we do know is that suffocation is a horrible way to die. So why would we say that hooking someone up to a mask and forcibly suffocating them using gas is not cruel? It’s important to remember that Smith first conviction the jury recommended life in person in an 11-1 vote, in a ruling that is no longer allowed in Alabama the judge decided to sentence him to death. He was originally supposed to receive a lethal injection, but after hours of unsuccessfully attempting to find a viable vein, the state had to stop. This left Smith in pain, with bruised and battered arms. Death by nitrogen hypoxia had never been tested before on humans, and some veterinarians say that it is inhumane for animals to be euthanized using nitrogen gas. According to eyewitnesses was that execution began at 7:56 p.m. and a few minutes later Smith started choking and moving in the gurney for minutes. He was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. Alabama seemed set on using this method on someone so that they could start using it in place of lethal injection. There should be an investigation into Smith’s execution, and if it in fact was cruel and unusual based on eyewitness accounts and the medical records.
VIEWPOINTS
Rewarding yourself can cost you your savings goal
NINA BANKS
managing editor
nina.banks@my.tccd.edu
This month, I’m not spending any money. OK, that’s an exaggeration. My niacinamide is about to run out and I won’t tough it out through a saving challenge and ruin two months of my six-step Korean skincare routine. I was watching YouTube when I got an ad for a budgeting app. I installed it to start my Dave Ramsey journey of financial freedom and currency consciousness. I linked the app to my bank account and was ready to create cute, color-coded spreadsheets and receive an ego boost for my savvy spending in 2023. Instead, I was hit with the cold, hard, fiscally irresponsible truth. I didn’t even think it was possible for a person to spend that much on Chick Fil A. I was — still am — in denial about how much I spent last year. So, I did what any sane person who is ready to take accountability for their spending habits would have done: I deleted the app and proceeded to drop $180 on two pairs of jeans and shoes. I’m not actually that irresponsible. I always save 50% of both my paychecks and I contemplate for months when making a big purchase. Food, however, is a different
story. 10 dollars on a three-finger combo here and 15 on a Chipotle bowl there. It’s the difference between a ton of feathers and a ton of steel. I decided a while ago to do “no spend February.” My cousin did it last January to give her bank account a break from Christmas shopping. I don’t know how she completed it because it seems that the tendency for unnecessary purchases is genetic. I’ll still buy the necessities: groceries, gas and of course skincare. Choosing February was intentional. It’s the shortest month, I have no trips planned and certainly no pesky boyfriend to buy a gift for Valentine’s Day. And all men love Legos now for some odd reason. What ever happened to “it’s the thought that counts?” While I laid in my bed, broke and in denial, about my spending habits, I realized a common trend. Whenever I completed any task that brought me even the smallest amount of stress or anxiety, I rewarded myself. Whew, you sent that thank you email that you’ve been putting off for three days? Let’s treat myself to some boba. Wow, you went to the post office to send that crucial piece of your application? Here’s some Salata. What? It’s a salad. I’m like Pavlovian conditioning on crack. To complete any task, I need a reward. You do not want to know what it took me to write this. Perhaps a new lip oil is out of the question, but making myself a batch of cookies after a hard week can be my reward. There’s no reason why I can’t reward myself. I just need to find ways that don’t have me eyeing my savings account whenever I’m dire need of a sweet treat. However, you better believe that I will be at Sharetea at opening Mar. 1.
Media is lacking sincerity, bring back cordial moments
XAVIER BOATNER campus editor
xavier.boatner@my.tccd.edu
Sincerity in media is always in style, yet short in quantity. What happened to sincerity? There’s a lot of media to watch, play, read and absorb. Countless stories and worlds to get lost in. Numerous characters to root for in their adventures. Hundreds of thousands of lessons to be learned and valued. It’s fun. Some of the most endearing media experiences I’ve had were loaded with sincerity, passion and heart. Does it sound cheesy? Man, of course it does, but that’s what’s so great about it. I was doomscrolling away on my YouTube feed a few days ago and stumbled across a video on the sincerity of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies. That video got me thinking back on those films and how straightforward they played Spider-Man and Peter Parker’s adventures. There was an unabashed cheesiness to the trilogy, but something there made those movies endlessly rewatchable for me. And that’s something that’s missing in modern media for me. Now, I should preface that I’m not saying there aren’t modern movies I adore, because there are plenty of modern movies I adore, but there’s certain lack of “straightforwardness” to so much of media I see now. That’s just indicative of
my taste or something, but I feel it could run deeper than that. We do live in an era that loves deconstructions, reinterpretations and rejections of certainty and enlightenment. There’s nothing wrong with that, mind you, but I feel it’s gotten to a point where it’s no longer as riveting as it once was. These concepts are a part of postmodernism: a belief that there is no truth, and that the rejection of modernity is ideal. It’s interesting but trying to deconstruction and the subjection of skepticism onto so many things across media is tiring. It’s not easy to find media that doesn’t constantly turn to the audience and wink, you know? There’s a certain charm to a work of art that plays itself straight and takes itself seriously with integrity regardless of how silly or “cringe” the concept may be. I know Spider-Man, someone with the ability to shoot webs from his hands and climbs up walls in the red, white and blue spandex is a stupid, silly concept. But I don’t need the work in question – be it a movie, comic, show, game or otherwise – to remind me how stupid it is. It’s a nitpick for sure, but it’s something that I’d like to see more of. Pure sincerity and confidence in a concept that plays itself straight. It evokes an air of pride in the work. It evokes a certain type of heartfulness and passion that would otherwise get lost under the self-aware depreciation or obscured by the winks and nods. I think more media should be confident in its cheesiness and wear it on its sleeve. Treat its themes, characters and world with integrity no matter how weird. Not everything needs to be a deep deconstruction or rejection of established concepts. Sometimes, just executing concepts well with passion and sincerity is all you need.
Letter Policy The Collegian is a weekly student publication serving the Tarrant County College District. Editorial statements and advertisements do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the TCC administration. Letters to the paper should be 150 words or less, free from libel and poor taste and include the writer’s Colleague ID or telephone number (the numbers will not be published).
Letters may be brought to The Collegian office (NCAB 1124A, NE Campus), or mailed to: The Collegian 828 Harwood Road Hurst, TX 76054
@tccthecollegian • collegian.tccd.edu TCC is an equal opportunity institution that provides educational and employment opportunities on the basis of merit and without discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, age, national
Office: 817-515-6391 email: collegian.editor@tccd.edu
origin, veteran status or disability.
Meet the Staff EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
CAMPUS EDITORS
MANAGING EDITOR
NORTHEAST Xavier Boatner Fousia Abdullahi
PHOTO/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR
SOUTHEAST Keyla Holmes
ILLUSTRATORS
TRINITY RIVER Olla Mokhtar
Hope Smith Nina Banks
Alex Hoben
Tj Favela Markus Meneses
DESIGNERS
Jerry Swinney Dominick Martinez
PHOTOGRAPHER Rama Ajlouni
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Abel Hailu
Professional Staff ADVISERS
Chris Whitley Lori Dann
PRODUCTION MANAGER Stacy Luecker
