I feel that Tim McVeigh is a monster. In no way do I want to be seen as condoning or defending his actions. I don’t believe in the death penalty but I feel that he got what he deserved. But when you take a look at the man and put him in context you see a idealist, a man who joined the army to defend his country and who came to the belief that the government was too big, too powerful and was using that power to infringe on the rights of ordinary citizens. He struck out at a symbol of that government and its power by destroying the Federal Building. In doing so he created what he calls “collateral damage” but what the rest of us call “innocent victims” and did more harm to the anti-government movement that he sought to aid. But what if he had bombed the building in the dead of night. What if he had taken care to act when no-one, not even a security guard was in the building and wrought enormous physical damage to the structure, this symbol of government power without harming anyone? Would he still be considered a monster or would he be a hero to some people?
We’re doing this thread already. You might have missed it because “execution” is spelled wrong in the title.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=73589
Come on in, rebelyell, the water’s fine!
If a single man managed to detonate a building that size without harming anyone in a serious way?
Yes, I guess he’d be my hero, if only for his amazing powers of deduction and skill. I have no objections to screwing the system over either! 
I doubt the scenario is possible though, we’re talking a pretty damned massive building here. That thing coming down is bound to hurt someone, not to mention the bomb that brings it down.
— G. Raven
I am against the death penalty. It just makes me sad.
Yes, its much sadder that he killed innocents people(or even non-innocent people), but I don’t see how this helps or deters.
Was Timothy McVeigh a perfect example of what Hannah Arendt meant by the “banality of evil”? I think the movie 8mm tried to deal with that concept when the serial killer turned out to be George - the most ordinary little person in the world. The more a person is able to see themselves as unexceptional and ordinary the more they will see their crimes in that light. Is that a correct interpretation of Hannah Arendt? It’s an unfortunate fact for the victims of the Oklahoma bombing that Timothy McVeigh, on television in other countries, seemed outwardly to be the kind of person he did. He seemed to be an amiable Neal Cassady lookalike, or alternatively, everyone’s goofy cousin. I think that made it both easier for him to believe he was not evil and for other people to take notice of commentators who said they were not convinced of his guilt or at least that he was the only guilty party. There are such people and they have their reasons. Timothy McVeigh seemed to like life a lot didn’t he? His own life, that is. One insight life has provided me is that loving life is no guarantee it will love you back.
A few years ago, someone threatened the Prince of Wales with either an unloaded or a fake gun. IIRC, he got life in prison, and had some jackass explanation, like he was “making a statement”. A UK Doper might have more info. Anyway, I thought, what a dumbass. Not that I wish he’d succeeded, but I didn’t understand why he did it at all.