Listen To You Tell Me Texas Friday 2/6/15
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Fox News has come under fire for posting the full video of the Jordanian pilot who was put in a cage and burned to death by the Islamist terror group ISIS. According to its critics, many of whom are billed as terrorism experts, Fox News is aiding and abetting ISIS by giving them exactly what they want – a platform by which to spread terror and incite new recruits to their cause.
That criticism is valid to a point but only to a point. There is propaganda value in the video for the good guys as well. The video does more to bring about a clear understanding of the evil that confronts us than an army of talking head “experts” appearing on TV.
The video is at once repulsive, riveting and instructive. (You can see it here. WARNING! EXTREMELY GRAPHIC & DISTURBING!)
From start to finish, it runs nearly 23 minutes. The first thing you notice is that it is very well-produced – on a par with the best propaganda produced by any Western nation. The production values – which include multiple camera angles, graphics, a music score and sophisticated video effects – put the lie to the idea that ISIS is the “J-V” as President Obama characterized them. To the contrary, ISIS is obviously well-funded, sophisticated and media-savvy. They’re varsity all the way.
The first 17 minutes of the video consist of pure propaganda. The Jordanian pilot is made to perform. He walks in front of a line of masked soldiers. He delivers a statement directly into the camera. Damage supposedly caused by his bombing is shown.
Then comes murder by the most horrific means imaginable. The pilot is outdoors inside a metal cage of about eight by ten feet. Wearing an orange jump suit, he stands in the cage as a masked soldier puts a torch to a line of sand that has been soaked in accelerant. The flame runs the 20 feet or so to the inside of the cage before igniting what quickly becomes a lake of fire, which in turn completely engulfs the pilot.
It takes an agonizingly long time for him to die. It is wrenching to watch. Many will be unable to do so and that’s perfectly understandable.
Nevertheless, net of all considerations pro and con, I believe that Fox performs a service by posting the video. It should be watched – if not by everybody then by at least enough of us so that the discussion of Islamic terror can be more pointed and less academic.
Seeing the video shatters any delusions that the West can somehow live with ISIS. It makes abundantly clear that ISIS has no desire to be reasoned with.
And it makes clear that they are not Presbyterians or Methodists or Catholics. They are, despite the president’s reluctance to say so, Islamic terrorists who will keep doing what they’re doing – escalating at every opportunity – until they are stopped.
King Abdullah of Jordan understands this. What is needed more than anything right now is an American president with the same clarity.
This is a gruesome video and it is chilling to watch. There can be no doubt that the people behind it are barbarians and they are not afraid to let anyone know it. While the argument for and against Fox News showing the video makes sense, I personally believe the true value of the video is to open the eyes of those who so far have refused to see what the enemy is really like. Listening to the talking heads on TV is interesting but it is an academic exercise that informs the viewer in a somewhat detached manner. Viewing this video strikes an emotional nerve and brings the true nature of these barbarians to life. Arguments for appeasing or negotiating with this enemy will not be made by anyone who has forced himself to watch the video. In my opinion, all news outlets should show the video with the appropriate warnings so that everyone is clear on who we are dealing with.
People need to be shocked into reality by watching this because most people do not have any idea what so ever just what these people are capible of. The thing is, these people have not changed in thousands of years and they aren’t going to change. We have to be made to understand this. Maybe, just maybe, if people SEE this for themselves they can grasp just what kind of people we are dealing with despite what the illegal in our Whitehouse says. People had better wake up to the fact it can happen HERE if they are NOT STOPPED!
The video does need to be seen–just once by any and every person who can take it. Islam’s march against civilization needs to be understood for what it is, a religious movement that tolerates no other religion or way of life. Those who don’t want Islamic horrors exposed have their own agenda–sweeping Islam outrages under the run. Public Radio, for example, is a prime offender. Every time Islam is naughty, Public Radio doubles down on its pro Muslim coverage.