SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the depends-which-side-you-are-on dept.
Erik Wemple writes at the Washington Post that Fox News recently took the controversial step of posting a horrific 22-minute video online that shows Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh being burned to death warning internet users that the presentation features "extremely graphic video." "After careful consideration, we decided that giving readers of FoxNews.com the option to see for themselves the barbarity of ISIS outweighed legitimate concerns about the graphic nature of the video," said Fox executive John Moody. "Online users can choose to view or not view this disturbing content."
But Fox's decision drew condemnation from some terrorism experts. "[Fox News] are literally — literally — working for al-Qaida and ISIS's media arm," said Malcolm Nance. "They might as well start sending them royalty checks." YouTube removed a link to the video a few hours after it was posted, and a spokesperson for Facebook told the Guardian that if anyone posted the video to the social networking site it would be taken down. CNN explained that it wouldn't surface any of the disturbing images because they were gruesome and constituted propaganda that the network didn't want to distribute. "Does posting this video advance the aims of this terror group or hinder its progress by laying bare its depravity?" writes Wemple. "Islamic State leaders may indeed delight in the distribution of the video — which could be helpful in converting extremists to its cause — but they may be mis-calibrating its impact. If the terrorists expected to intimidate the world with their display of barbarity, they may be disappointed with the reaction of Jordan, which is vowing "strong, earth-shaking and decisive" retaliation."
(Score: 3, Informative) by Arik on Saturday February 07 2015, @05:17PM
It happens all the time, the press dont seem very interested.
Here's an example: http://www.lettertobaghdadi.com/
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 07 2015, @06:52PM
Here's what the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar thinks:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/122176/Egypt/Politics-/AlAzhar-head-says-IS-murderers-deserve-to-be-kille.aspx [ahram.org.eg]
The head of Al-Azhar, Egypt's pre-eminent Sunni Islamic institute, has strongly condemned the killing of a Jordanian pilot by the "terrorist, devilish" Islamic State (IS).
Ahmed El-Tayeb said: "The Quran mandates that the perpetrators of this cowardly act, which goes against God's word, deserve to be killed, or crucified, or have their legs and arms amputated." He also called on the international community to fight against the "barbaric, savagery" of IS that is against the teachings of Allah and his prophet Mohamed
When I stand back a bit the differences between ISIS and Al-Azhar get a bit blurry ;). They start to look like two sides of the same coin. After all don't the ISIS say similar sort of things?
In my country there are very many Muslims who support the ISIS. And even more who support serving Islam by fighting and killing others and consider it good or even encouraged. It is actually easier for Muslims to justify these actions and other violent actions using Islam (hence that statement by the Grand Imam), compared to say Buddhists (those in Sri Lanka and Myanmar try to justify their actions, but it's pretty obvious they're stretching things a _lot_).
But all Muslims should ask themselves: "When Muslims kill each other in the name/defence of Islam, and all sides (as usual) call their dead Shahid (Martyrs), will God really be pleased with all of them, regard them as Shahid and reward them accordingly? If you kill someone how sure are you that God will regard you as Shahid? What if you are the bad guy and the person you just killed is now a Shahid?
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Saturday February 07 2015, @08:35PM
Beware the relativism because all of islam is part of the same face of the same coin. On the other side of the coin is the US government and the global totalitarian system of surveillance and manipulation. Along the surface of the rim of the coin are all the “politically correct”, the media, the apologists, the suicidal pacifists, everyone who hasn't caught on, and so on.
You can flip that coin as many times as you wish but you can't win, not even when it stands on edge.
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fritsd on Saturday February 07 2015, @08:51PM
Thanks for the informative link Arik. Blimey but that epistle is difficult to read. I guess IANAMufti :-)
Your link is much more informative than any video of horrible acts perpetrated by IS.
It is not clear to me who wrote it. Is that on purpose?
To people surfing to that site: you have to click on the little yellow arrows to turn the pages. It uses Adobe Flash. It is long and boring so brew some tea or coffee. It might make you sick to your stomach reading about IS.
I liked paragraph 4 "Difference of opinion" about "severity", and paragraph 7 "killing emissaries" about the journalists, which is very clearly written.
About par. 11: are Magians the same as Zoroastrians?
Paragraph 18 about mutilation has a very prophetic comment, I think:
I am reminded of a certain blonde politician from the Netherlands who is in full agreement with that statement :-/ .
par. 21: hmph. Old-fashioned. And what is the issue with wrinkly Ethiopians anyway?
Also the arrogance of these people: par. 22 about the caliphate:
At the end of the letter I notice that some of the signatories are from Nigeria and Chad, I bet they're applying the same text to Boko Haram and come to the same conclusion about those criminals.
(Score: 1) by Arik on Saturday February 07 2015, @09:19PM
I believe the first 11 signatories claim joint authorship, they are the ones pictured if you scroll down the page a bit, starting with Sheikh bin Bayyah of Abu Dhabi and going through Prof. Din Syamsuddin of Indonesia.
"To people surfing to that site: you have to click on the little yellow arrows to turn the pages. It uses Adobe Flash. It is long and boring so brew some tea or coffee. It might make you sick to your stomach reading about IS."
Actually easier. Disable flash. Scroll down the page to where it says 'download translations' and click English (or whatever you prefer.)
"About par. 11: are Magians the same as Zoroastrians?"
Yes, another name for the same thing.
"At the end of the letter I notice that some of the signatories are from Nigeria and Chad, I bet they're applying the same text to Boko Haram and come to the same conclusion about those criminals."
Yes. Boko Haram is a big worry there, and they make a point of killing any legitimate religious scholars they find btw.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?