I don't think it's anything new. It's just a demonstration of an ugly side of humanity.

Historically, executions (whether legal or extralegal) were social events. True or false, I remember being taught in middle school history class that picnickers set up camp to watch the first Battle of Bull Run.

People subjected to industrialized medicine are indeed insulated from death, to all of our detriment, but I don't think those are the same forces at work when a political assassination is sensationalized on TV. IMVHO, the deaths that are ignored by the TV are at least as important as the ones that are replayed over and over to the tune of "Buckwheat Has Been Shot."