I don’t know why the media always reward these psychopaths by giving them the fame they covet; that is, by plastering their pathetic mugs all over television and reporting pop psychology about why and how they did their dastardly deeds.
You’d think … we would have figured out by now that the best way to discourage them is by focusing our attention on the victims and limiting what we say about the [terrorists] to: May God have mercy on your soul as you all burn in Hell!
(“Massacre in Omaha,” The iPINIONS Journal, December 7, 2007)
Since 9/11, I have been preaching, like the proverbial John the Baptist, against the journalistic sin of news organizations – from CNN to the BBC – covering mass shootings and terrorist attacks more like thrilling entertainment than tragic news.
Nothing demonstrates this quite like reporters heightening suspense (to keep viewers entertained) by peddling rank speculation about unfolding events. Evidently, they couldn’t care less that making media martyrs of suspects in these case only encourages other losers to follow their path to infamy.
But what public interest, pray tell, is served by reporters presenting This Is Your Life profiles of terrorist suspects – complete with homages to their inspirational leaders, listings of their terrorist associations, and pleadings of their jihadi grievances? Except, of course, how else would they fill their obsessive, repetitive, 24/7 coverage of these events…? And don’t get me started on all of the erroneous reporting and terrorist propaganda they peddle as “breaking news.”
I get that my plea must make me seem every bit as hapless as the victims [of terrorist attacks]. 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…?
(“Earth to Media: Stop Broadcasting Terrorist Propaganda,” The iPINIONS Journal, November 17, 2014)
Meanwhile, tuning into media coverage today of the two hostage situations still unfolding in France, one could be forgiven the impression that Daesh terrorists were doing there what they’ve been doing in Syria and Iraq; namely, massacring thousands as they rampage across vast swathes of territory.
Whereas, in fact, all we have are the two brothers, who perpetrated the Charlie Hebdo shootings, now cornered by security forces in one location; and their copycat comrades – a man and his girlfriend, who killed a policewoman a day later – now cornered in another. And we all know it’s only a matter of time before they end in one of three ways:
- The suspects will release their hostages and surrender (as they often do).
- The suspects will kill their hostages and themselves.
- The police will storm in (and all hell will break loose, likely killing as many hostages as suspects – as was the case in Sydney, Australia last month).
Frankly, folks, these types of hostage situations unfold in the United States every day. Which is why it strikes me as silly for the French government to be convening emergency meetings to deal with them; and as irresponsible for President Obama, who clearly should know better, to be feeding into this hysteria by invoking the pathos of 9/11 to convey his sympathies to loved ones of the victims.
It behooves all Western countries to expect such ‘lone-wolf’ shootings to become as common as school shootings are in the United States. But they must react to them as the local crimes they are, instead of propagating such hysteria about global terrorism that you’d think Daesh (aka ISIS/ISIL) terrorists did in Canada today what they’ve been doing in Iraq/Syria for months.
More to the point, notwithstanding the misguided backlash Snowden’s NSA disclosures have wrought, they must allow their respective intelligence services to use all means necessary to surveil and apprehend the would-be terrorists amongst us before they act out their jihadist fantasies.
Otherwise, we will terrorize ourselves to death if we keep reacting to every terrorist-inspired shooting as if it were another 9/11.
(“Gunman Terrorizes Canada. Keep Calm and Carry On,” The iPINIONS Journal, October 23, 2014)
In the meantime, like John the Baptist, I’m going to keep on preaching … until “they” chop my head off too….
Amen.
That said, the prevailing argument in support of Charlie Hebdo’s anti-Muslim cartoons is that it desecrates all religions with equal irreverence. Except that, because Christians tolerate insults to their faith does not mean that Muslims should too. After all, nobody in his right mind would argue that, because Whites tolerate racist jokes about their race, Blacks should too.
This terrorist killing of a few cartoonists has moved world leaders to not only express condolences, but flock to Paris to march in solidarity with the French people as well. Except that this stands in glaring, if not racist, contrast to the way the terrorist killing of thousands (and kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls) in Nigeria barely moved them to express condolences, let alone a rush to march in solidarity with the Nigerian people.
To be fair, though, world leaders can be forgiven their apparent indifference – given that Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan rushed to Paris, but has acted all along as if Boko Haram terrorists are just African bogeyman created by Western media to sell newspapers.
Related commentaries:
Massacre in Paris…
Massacre in Omaha…
Earth to media…
Gunman terrorize Canada…
Lone wolf terrorizes LA…