It speaks volumes about the media’s amoral code of conduct that they transitioned a few days ago, with nary a pause, from reporting on the Rosetta spacecraft landing on Comet 67P, to broadcasting the latest recording from the Daesh/ISIS leader calling his foot soldiers to arms. They punctuated the latter today with lurid wall-to-wall coverage of a video showing “Jihadi John” spewing more terrorist propaganda and beheading more hapless victims.
Alas, the simple fact is that, if it inspires, terrorizes … or bleeds, it leads.
Yet I reiterate my plea that:
The only people who need to know about these beheadings at this point are the loved ones of the godforsaken beheaded. What’s more, notwithstanding the media, President Obama can help quell the hysteria by expressing his condolences privately, instead of issuing pubic statements — full of angst and outrage signifying nothing — after each of them.
(“Stop the ‘Breaking News’ about Beheadings Already!” The iPINIONS Journal, October 4, 2014)
I get that my plea must make me seem every bit as hapless as the victims referenced above. But I remain hopeful that, at some point, someone far more influential than I will incite public outrage against these media nincompoops – who are not only abusing their freedom of the press, but also betraying their abject venality by propagating terrorist propaganda so blithely.
I mean, can you imagine any news outlet in the United States or Britain broadcasting Nazi propaganda during WWII, the way all news outlets in these two countries are broadcasting Daesh/ISIS propaganda today…?
Unfortunately, we live in a Twitter age of such promiscuous, indiscriminate and surreal media practices that it seems perfectly normal for our own media to be helping the enemy perpetrate psychological warfare against us. What else explains the media shielding us from the epithets of racists, but bombarding us with the taunts of terrorists?
I can’t be the only one who sees that broadcasting audio-visual press releases from terrorists serves no public interest whatsoever. Not to mention that, instead of conveying coded messages for sleeper cells to launch coordinated attacks (as some media outlets insinuate for greater terrorizing/ratings effect), these releases are far more likely to incite disaffected and often disturbed lone wolves to seek their 15 minutes of infamy by launching indiscriminate attacks.
Therefore, I entreat you to help me convey this anti-terror message to the media:
- We do not need to know their names (which should spare you the professional terror of having to pronounce them);
- We do not need to see their menacing faces or gruesome videos; and
- We do not need to hear their press releases;
- All we need is to know that Obama and his coalition of the willing are killing more and more of them before they can kill any more of us.
Related commentaries:
Stop broadcasting beheadings already…
* This commentary was originally published yesterday, Sunday, at 3:48 p.m.