Moral Equivalency Justified by Major News Groups
CAUTION: THIS COMMENTARY CONTAINS LINKS TO GRISLY, GRAPHIC IMAGES THAT ARE NOT APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN TO VIEW. THESE LINKS ARE PROVIDED FOR TWO REASONS: (1) TO DEMONSTRATE THE BRUTALITY OF THOSE AGAINST WHOM THE WAR ON TERRORISM IS BEING WAGED; AND (2) BECAUSE THE MAINSTREAM AMERICAN MEDIA HAS SELECTIVELY CHOSEN TO FOCUS ITS WRATH ON THE RECENT PRISON-ABUSE SCANDAL WITHOUT BALANCING ITS REPORTING BY SHOWING IMAGES PORTRAYING THE ATROCITIES COMMITTED BY TERRORISTS AGAINST AMERICANS.
By James L. and Lori Lambert
May 14, 2004
(AgapePress) - Last week I expressed my outrage over the media's lack of balance in reporting the discovery of Iraqi prison abuse and the related pictures that were splashed all over the front pages of many major news outlets around the country. I also recounted the horrific murders of non-combat personnel by butchers in the Middle East and how the "elite" media refused to show the imagery of their brutal deaths, yet simultaneously used the pages of their newspapers to parade footage of the Iraqi prisoners who were humiliated.
See last week's commentary by James Lambert
Not long after that commentary, a 26-year-old American worker, Nick Berg, was brutally murdered by terrorists who admittedly had strong ties to the al-Qaida terrorist organization headed by Osama bin Laden. The video depicting this murder shows scenes where these animals take approximately 30 seconds to carve off Michael's head while he is screaming. After this occurred, we can hear rabid chants to 'Allah', while they say, "God is great, God is great!" -- all while holding Berg's head up to the camera.
It is amazing that papers like the New York Times and many others gave short shrift to this brutal and ritualistic killing. Yet within the same pages of these same websites and newspapers, the Iraqi prison scandal was again highlighted in such a way as to seriously detract from Berg's tragic beheading.
It is strongly apparent that the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, CNN, and many other news groups are clearly agenda-driven. It particularly annoys me when media groups like the LA Times places an "Analysis" banner under their headlines to justify placement of editorialized reporting on their front page.
Traditionally the front pages of major newspapers have always been reserved for objective news stories. What papers like the LA Times have done is to transfer their opinions from the editorial pages to their front pages and couch it as "news." This is exactly what these media and other news groups have done to this Iraqi prison story. Further, it appears that extreme hatred of George W. Bush is the engine driving the prison-abuse story by various editors of these news groups. It has now become a partisan story to help bring down the President this fall.
While what occurred in the Abu Ghraib prison is indeed appalling, it is of extreme importance that we be reminded of other "abuses" that have resulted in death -- the death of Americans. For that reason, I have provided links to web pages that will provide "balance" to the imagery that clearly demonstrates the type of adversary we are up against.
While these images are brutal and graphic, these images express why we are fighting the war against terrorism. It is important, at this time, not to hide our collective heads in the sand, but to view this imagery so that we may "know the enemy."
CAUTION: THESE LINKS WILL TAKE THE READER TO GRISLY, GRAPHIC IMAGES THAT ARE NOT APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN TO VIEW. THE IMAGES DEPICT PEOPLE JUMPING FROM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, ABUSE OF CHARRED BODIES, AND HUMAN DECAPITATION
Photos from the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City
Images of the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan
Images of the desecration of Americans' bodies in Fallujah, Iraq
Video of the murder of American contractor Nick Berg in Iraq
James L. Lambert, who resides in San Diego, California, is a frequent contributor to AgapePress. He is the author of Porn in America (Huntington House), which can be purchased through the American Family Association; and a licensed loan sales agent who offers all types of real-estate mortgage loans. He can be reached via his website: JamesLLambert.com.
© 2004 AgapePress all rights reserved.
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