The Daniel Pearl Murder Video (Page 3)
On the surface, this might seem to benefit the terrorists. The Internet provides a quick and easy way to route dreadful propaganda around government and media censors. The Pearl video is packed with propaganda juxtaposed with video of Pearl speaking, then his murder and finally a hand holding his severed head at the end of the video. Some would say that the spread of this video will help recruitment efforts by the terrorists. That’s a possibility, no doubt some very sick people that sympathize with Pearl’s killers will take joy in seeing it and might become terrorists themselves.
But a curious, unforeseen thing might also result from people seeing the video: a stiffening of resolve by Americans and others to resist, to the bitter end, all forms of terror. One cannot watch the video without feeling this, we could not stop his murder but we can and we will stop his murderers in the end. And so the free flow of information, however tainted with propaganda, might in the end hurt the very cause that the terrorists want to promote. If their goal was to terrorize Americans by putting the Pearl video on the net, then they’ve already failed. All they’ve done is instill in the viewer of Pearl’s murder a burning desire for justice and an unshakeable commitment to seeing the war on terror through to the bitter end, regardless of the costs.
The free flow of information works both ways though. It’s incumbent on all of us to act responsibly and level-headedly when dealing with graphic material like the Pearl video. Lashing out blindly at all muslims would make us as bad as Pearl’s killers and that’s not who we are nor what we want to be. Instead, we need to bear witness to what happened to a fellow human being and then we need to use our anger to steel ourselves for the struggle ahead. At least then something positive can come from Daniel Pearl’s death and he will not have died in vain.
Thinking of Downloading the Pearl Video? Think Again…
If you are considering viewing the Pearl video, please be aware that it is extremely graphic and that you will be haunted by it if you see it. I do not recommend that anyone cavalierly download it or watch it without the most serious of intentions. I made a choice to view the video and I will have to live with the moral and emotional implications of that choice and I am still feeling the immediate repercussions as I write this. So think it through very, very carefully if you are thinking about downloading it.
For most of us a better thing to do is to visit the site of the Daniel Pearl Foundation at http://www.danielpearlfoundation.org. The mission of the foundation is to to promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and innovative communications. You can make a donation online and contribute to the creation of a lasting memorial for Daniel Pearl. I made a contribution today and I hope you will too.
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