For some stupid reason I clicked on a video link on an American website while looking for the latest news on Ken Bigley, but it was the Jack Hensley murder video.

This has shocked me deeply to a level I never knew I had before. I don't want to get into a big discussion about the war here, but I am genuinely interested in how this is being reported in the US.

I need a little community support here, has anyone else had an experience with this? Or is this not the sort of thing I should be talking about on here?

Cris.

There is a thread discussing it, but it kind of got derailed a bit. I have not seen the video, nor do I want to. I avoid the televised news, mostly because I feel it is a bit biased and reports their analysis of the events. I like to draw my own conclusions. I tend to read news websites - CNN, BBC, etc.

I cannot tell you how the broadcast media is playing it. I doubt they would air the video, other than small (carefully selected) bites that do not show anything other than a "before" shot, framing him with his kidnappers / executioners.

I would guess that the broadcast media would be doing a lot of personal interest background stories: family reaction, family history, Bush saying this has to stop, if you are lucky international reaction.

Edit: added link to BBS thread

I saw the video of Eugene Armstrong, it was a very strange experience. After watching countless gory films in the past, nothing prepares you for what you see. It's not latex, fake blood and a stunt man doing it. You genuinely see a man lose his life, in probably one of the most horrendous ways imaginable. It seems the most humane (if you can call it that) way would shoot someone in the head and get it over with, I think these guys actually enjoy doing it.

I'm sure there is a huge difference in watching the mom in Taking Lives lose her head and watching the real thing. Very surreal, I imagine. I can only pray for the families of the victims.

I didn't see this beheading in particular, but I heard enough audio from another and saw some stills to make me sick to my stomache as well. But what really has me freaked out is that they are finding just the "bodies" of these people - not the heads. They still havn't found Daniel Pearl's head as far as I know. Very disturbing. We are dealing with truely evil people here. Some people are even distributing DVDs of these actions.

I just wish that the good Muslim people of this world would take more of a public stand against this. Their silence speaks volumes to some people, but I think they too are afraid. This gave me some hope recently.

I am living in a Muslim country right now, Tunisia to be exact. They definitely don’t get the same news that I have read in the U.S. Every day I come home to a roommate that blasts Al Jazeera. Since I can only understand a little Arabic and can read even less, I don’t get the full story. But there are no shortage of people we willing to talk about what they hear, see, and read. Unless its about their own government.

Al Jazeera most certainly shows pictures and clips that you would not see in Europe, or in the state. I think there is a large population in Europe that can get Al Jazeera. While they have not shown the actual beheadings, they have shown, with sound, the whole tape with the exception of the ugly deed. There is commentary on it while it’s playing. I sit and watch with little reaction, as do most people here. I haven’t had a single person utter a word about these tapes in social atmospheres.

I don’t believe by in large the Muslim people know how to go about dealing with this. I’ll try to drag some information out of my roommate about the subject.

Nobody is a serial killer in the name of "being white". Christians do publically condemn preists that molest young children and often do so in other situations when someone is being stupid "in the name of Christianity".

I know that the acts of these sub-humans does in now way reflect the nature of the majority of Muslims. My point was simply that because the good so overwhelmingly outnumber the bad, it seems that the Muslim community would be in the best position to oust these terrorists and are doing these things.

I shouldn't have to point this out, but just so that nobody gets the wrong idea (or suggest that I'm bigoted against Muslims), I live in the largest Muslim community in the US. Many of the friends I happen to welcome into my home happen to be Muslim as are many of my neighbors, coworkers and community members. It is my first hand knowledge of how great the Muslim community is here in Dearborn that gives me faith that the people that are distorting the Muslim faith can be brought down by the good.

The KKK analogy is much closer than the aforementioned serial killer analogy. The KKK feels they have a "cause" for their violence, and their "cause" is to "cleanse" our country of those who "don't belong" and advance their (warped) interpretation of Christianity. The "cause" for the violence Muslim extremists engage in is to fight against forces which they see as encroaching on their own (warped) interpretation of Islam.

And let me assure you that, while it's certainly nowhere near a majority, there is certainly a very large contingent in "White America" that doesn't directly support or condone what the KKK does, but believes many of the same things, and therefore "looks the other way" when the KKK demonstrates in the center of town, burns a cross, or spray-paints swastikas on the home of a Jewish family. This "silent acceptance" is a result of agreeing with some or all of what the extremists do, but not wanting to go to the same, well, extremes.

Getting back to what Muslims should or shouldn't do about these acts, I'd imagine that it's the same scenario. Nowhere near a majority of Muslims believe in "Death to America," "Death to Israel," etc. But from what I gather, mainstream Muslim opinion is that the Palestinians (and only the Palestinians) belong in Israel, and America should stay out of the Middle East. So, when you average Muslim sees anti-American or anti-Israeli violence on TV, it doesn't disturb them in the same way that violence against their own people does. Certainly, the average Muslim wouldn't personally engage in these extreme terrorist acts, and they wouldn't necessarily associate with anyone who does... But despite their different interpretations, they're still bonded by the same faith, so they have more in common than they do with the American they saw executed on TV. To them, therefore, the anti-American violence is more acceptable on a relative scale, though not acceptable on an absolute scale.

I didn't want to make the post about my personal opinion, I wanted it to be about the general public in the US. Because it was in reply to a premise that the general Muslim public in the middle east didn't find the actions as abhorrent as the US public did.

However, I will admit that I don't think I'm the same as the general public in this country when it comes to that. I think most of the people in the US would cheer to see Osama Bin Laden beheaded gruesomely, whereas I would think it would be an awful, terrible thing. (Edit, clarification: I still want to see him and his organization brought to justice, I just don't happen to believe in executions.)

Above it? That's a tough one, because if I say yes, I'm an elitist snob. But I think that there's a large amount of patriotic propaganda in this country that's not easy to avoid, and I work hard to try to think for myself, rather than giving into it. I don't think the general public, as a whole, feels the same way.

Please clarify if you're assuming that the U.S. is generally populated by human beings or by subhumans.

Out of curiosity, are you also Arabic (or of Arabic descent)?

Maybe I'm living in lala land, but I have yet to meet one white person that supports the KKK. And I do personally feel obligated to object to them. I even used to wear a t-shirt with a stick figure tossing a swastica in the trash. (I used to get funny lucks because the swastica was bright red and that stuck out, so I stopped wearing it.)

The only good news is that they are pretty much considered a joke in the US. They only get attention on the Springer show. I'd also say that there are equal parts white people yelling at the KKK when they do show their face at city hall or Springer.

Quote:
To look at a white person and assume they're a KKK member or that they better speak out against KKK members for fear that others might think they agree with it seems like a silly proposition.

I never implied that any Muslim who didn't speak out against terrorism or beheadings in particular were in any way to be considered sympathetic. I was just saying tha it'd be quite powerful if even a small number of the 1 billion Muslims world wide did so.

I'd click "reply to all" if I could...

But good points by all.

I think he should be locked up and prevented from communicating with the outside world, so that he can't continue to direct terrorists to commit terrorist acts.

edit: Note that I didn't intend for this to turn this into a discussion for/against the death penalty. I just wanted to point out that, as a nation, we have a certain amount of bloodlust that's closely tied to our patriotism. That's the only reason we've been able to stomach the wars in the middle east with the losses of our countrymen. I wish everyone on the planet were able to suppress those feelings and deal logically and calmly with everything, instead of making war upon each other.