I can't remember being more disgusted with the state of journalism in this country than I am right now.


A bunch of mask-wearing animals beheaded Nick Berg. But not a single fucking mainstream media outlet out there is willing to actually show people what they did. I just watched Jennings's shitty excuse for reportage on the issue, and he even went and told the audience that the tape's all over the internet, but they're not going to show it.

Cowards. Fucking incompetents. Hey, assholes, it's your job to show people what happened. When a bunch of savages cloaked in religion kidnap an American and chop his head off on camera, it's your fucking job to show it, just like it's your job to show the prison abuse photos and videos, just like it's your job to report who was killed in action. Your. Fucking. JOB.

And, no, simply intellectually realizing that, yes, they cut his head off, is not a substitute. And, no, concerns for the family's privacy, or the senstivities of the viewer, are not an excuse. This shit happened, and it's your job to show people what happened, and if what happens disgusts and enrages them, good, because this is supposed to disgust and enrage them.


You fucking cowards.

The media in the middle east is even worse... daily they pump the people in the middle east and in western muslim circles with disinformation about the western world. Take a quick surf on some muslim news sites, and you will read comments which EVERY normal thinking person (and I mean all - no matter what you belive in or how you live - beside being a fucked up muslim) in the west would be shocked too read... are we told about the extreme brainwash which is happing in the middle east, and in western muslim circles?

The answer is NO, we might get a bit information from time to time, but other than that the western media is too busy pushing the story which is dividing us - and why is that? Because sometime ago while we were transforming the western world into democracy, then the media learned that the negativ criteria for news stories sold much better, and when it was about politics + negativ criteria, then it was even better, because now a normal reporter could get as powerful as some politicians... Its a powerrush for these people - they do not report anymore, they investigate from their own point of view - like they are on some divine mission.



Last edited by Rolo at May 12 2004, 02:34 AM

This is pretty bad...90 seconds on the berg murder.....spun directly into almost 3 minutes of iraqi abuse in the prisons......

it gets more disturbing every day....

youngsters watching the news with their parents don't need to see a beheading.

You think a child should see that video?

ha haa
didn't we go thru this in episode 1 of south park season 8
ok for kids to see violance
hell play with weapons?
but show them a nipple?
cartman's penis?

buff if you wanna show a beheading on tv
then don't bitch about stern on the radio, making millions laugh

While I agree that children do not need to see a beheading, I also think that adults don't need to see it either.

Children should not be watching the news to begin with.

Sure the local corn report in Utomwa Iowa is fine, but the New York metro news is enough to make most people fear for their life by going outside their door.

Of course I think it is great that we live in a country where the media CAN decide what it wants to show.

When have I bitched about stern? I think his show is boring and crass, but I would never call for government censorship of it.

Buff does it really surprise you?

Most of the media is extremely liberal and want to oust Bush any way they can. They are also anti-war and anti-military, so anything they can do to scuttle support from the American people they will do.

The sad reality is because of the pwoer of the press, the only wars we will be able to fight and win are those then last less then 100 days.

Glad these guys were not around before the 60s. No way we would have stayed to fight in WWII, or any other war....

sorry mike, but some people might question your objectivity on this topic when you post photographs of yourself watching fox news.

and when you compare the current embarrassment taking place in iraq to wwII you even stretch the definition of hyperbole.

why subject yourself to propaganda from any side? turn off the tv. form your own opinion. view the events of the world as an external abstraction.

william s. burroughs said it best: "take a broad general view of things"

I'm not sure which cracks me up more
the whole "extreme liberal bias of the media" excuse
or the "vast, rightwing conspiracy out to oust Clinton" excuse

Very well said, Buff, and I whole heartedly agrree with that position.

I think we could be talking about growing vegetables in a garden and Meni would find a way to bring Stern into it.

GOIA - Get Over It Already

In my mind it's not so much the media as the general pathetic sheeple attitude of the U.S. society. A clear-thinking person would realize what impact having these prisoners naked would do to them in information-gathering sessions, and what showing pictures of that would do to deter other would-be "honor" seekers looking for their quick route to 72 virgins.
But who says the majority of the U.S. thinks clearly anymore?
"Oh, they're naked, those poor poor men".... yeah, those poor poor men were firing on your sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers just days before. Hello? Engage brain?

I heard someone say that not seeing how aweful is the world and being shielded from the violence out there, being surrounded by stupid talkshows and pink TV series, is the real reason behind the existence of nations of pussies who don't even have the guts to protect themselves without protesting against those who are in charge of their security.

So you saw one guy's decapitation and you think something changed? that something new happened? If that is the case, that is bcause you are naive, short sighted and have short memory.
Just a day before, 6 soldiers were killed in Gaza (so far you can claim its ok since its "war" but) then got their body parts used for playing. Heards used as soccer balls...
You didn't hear about that? How surprising?
That is totally a different story some of you say? Ostriches I say.
You can't begin to think what kind of people would act that way, beheading someone in front of a camera? well... maybe you haven't practiced thinking too much lately?

The video of Berg's beheading is aweful. the worst thing I saw since Pearl's video. It makes you wonder if human beings are really a spicie and who we/you/they are dealing with. Once you will realize who it is you are dealing with, you will have easier time accepting both it and events like war against it.

As for kids seeing this. Don't let you kids watch this and you might succeed in the remarkable task of raising another generation of pussies not equipped to live on planet earth of the 20th century (especially true since noone is really commited into changing the world itself into a saner place).

I bet they never heard about the twenty-three Palestinians who were killed on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

And why is it do you think that the American media never goes into any depth about the 10,000 Iraqi civilians murdered by the United States?

This uproar over one decapitated American, who shouldn't have even been there, is ludicrous.

People keep forgetting that the United States are the invaders here.



Last edited by Joe Sixpack at May 13 2004, 01:25 AM

I bet they never heard about the twenty-three Palestinians who were killed on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

And why is it do you think that the American media never goes into any depth about the 10,000 Iraqi civilians murdered by the United States?

This uproar over one decapitated American, who shouldn't have even been there, is ludicrous.

People keep forgetting that the United States are the invaders here.[/b][/quote]
I also heard of people dying of car accidents or old age.
As to your 10,000 iraqs dead on US TV. I didn't say anyting too goodabot the media, so don't address your (not too thought of) criticism to me.
As to your "invaders" remark. "Invaders" is just a word and doesn't carry much in it. So, although we dont forget it, it still says nothing. What is your point?



Last edited by XXXManager at May 13 2004, 10:11 AM

I don't know who "they" are but it's one of the top stories on cnn.com

BTW .. are you following the situation in Nigeria between "Christians" and "Muslims", Joe? Why or why not?



Last edited by Colin at May 13 2004, 05:27 AM

I actually read about this; the story I read said the terrorists collected the body parts and were holding them for ransom. Nothing mentioned about using the heads as soccer balls. (Grrr)

Also read about an Italian who was forced to dig his own grave, then was hooded and pushed into the grave to be killed, but before they could do so he ripped the hood off of his head and screamed "I'll show you how an Italian dies!!!" (IE proudly without being masked.)
They (the terrorists) videotaped that one too but Al Jazeera refused to broadcast it saying his resulting death was "too graphic". And the beheading wasn't?

It's just a different world over there. "Barbaric" doesn't begin to scratch the surface.

Who are you to decide whether or not he should have been there?

He went over there to help rebuild things and get the infrastructure working again while you sit here on your ass typing and passing judgement. I don't think you've any right to judge what he should and shouldn't have been doing with his time/life. He chose to help others, you choose to criticize others.

Just as he was free to go over there and do what he felt was right, you're free to go over there and chase out who you believe to be the "invaders". However, I doubt you have half the conviction that he did.

And i'm sure cutting the hands off of a petty thief in New York would deter would be pick pockets, but that doesn't make it right, does it? Engage brain?

A clear-thinking person would realize that things like this only generate more anti american sentiment amongst Iraqis and Arabs across the middle east. It'll just create more "honor" seekers.

It was just wrong. It shouldn't have happened.

I don't know who "they" are but it's one of the top stories on cnn.com

BTW .. are you following the situation in Nigeria between "Christians" and "Muslims", Joe? Why or why not?[/b][/quote]
I'm following it in bits and pieces as I hear things but you have to admit that the western media isn't terribly interested in Africa unless it's a Rwanda style situation with hundreds of thousands of people being massacred.

I was very tried when I made that last post and I guess my point was that the U.S. media isn't terribly interested in reporting details of deaths on "the other side". CNN may have reported about the deaths of the Palestinians but it's only a top story because Israeli's were also killed.

I still think that there's been too much attention given to this one beheading. People are obsessed with the manner of his death but ultimately he is just another statistic in this clusterfuck or a war.



Last edited by Joe Sixpack at May 13 2004, 02:03 PM

It's sensationalistic. It's symbolic. It vilifies the enemy. All the elements were there. No surprises. Right? It seemed to me that it took off on the internet even faster than on television. People were interested in it.

Probably be pretty hard pressed to find many wars without decapitations. I imagine there are Iraqis around who had their heads cut off in this war too.

Fuck, this is rich ... the Three Stooges all posting in one thread.

Buff - sorry you have your tit in a wringer over this Berg thing, but at the risk of seeming illiterate by borrowing an acronym - GOIA. You are merely upset that the major news outlets aren't slanting their coverage in the manner you want them to.

Terrorist do mean nasty things. We KNOW they do mean nasty things. I do not need to see a video of his beheading to be incensed that they would do that. I don't need to see it in all its gory detail to hope that someone renders the purperators very, very dead very very quickly. I don't need to see it in order to wish somebody would award Joe Sixpacks an all-expenses paid trip to their camp in order for him to congratulate them for their actions (hey, it would only be a one-way ticket).

Is the beheading more newsworthy than the prison abuse? I don't think so. It's unfortunate, it's dispicable, but the beheading of this man did not shock me or suprise me in the way that the murder of Leon Klinghoffer did 19 years ago. It's what fucking terrorists do.

The only thing dumber than believing that the killing of this poor man was a result of the terrorism committed in Saddam's ... er, excuse me, Bush's detention camp is believing that this killing justifies that kind of conduct.

Carrie - Didn't you really mead to say "right-thinking Americans" would realize..."? That may come close to being one of the absolute dumbest things I've seen posted on Oprano. A clear thinking person would realize what an impact those photos would have on a nation full of people who have been suspicious about our intent to liberate them since the day we guarded our first objective in Baghdad - the Oil Ministry. A clear thinking person would not be stupid enough to think you can deter people desperate enough to become terrorists with this kind of action, and that for every one you actually do deter, 10 more will be pushed "over the line."

XXXManager - FYI, this is the 21st century in the Gregorian calendar (that whole 00-99 thing, you know) - but ... well ... that may have been the thing closest to correct in your whole post.

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four buses carrying an estimated 250 prisoners left Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison Friday, the first mass prisoner release since images of abuse at the hands of the U.S. military surfaced several weeks ago."

Yeah, I'm sure that was what they were doing.

You really do live in a dream world, don't you?

Hello? Engage brain?



Last edited by Joe Sixpack at May 13 2004, 11:32 PM

XXXManager

Carrie and Buff are well done for being bungalows but you seem a compassionate and relatively sane person..do you really think kids should watch this video to avoid.."another generation of pussies not equipped to live on planet earth of the 20th century ?"

It will be burned into the retinas of any child for life..you think that a positive thing? seriously?

added..Did I understand what you wrote correctly?



Last edited by nickdark at May 13 2004, 11:53 PM