Turn off the Terror

We can hardly turn on a TV in the morning without seeing one terrorist or another putting someone in peril.  For the past few days it has been the usual suspect, dressed in black and carrying a knife which we might suppose he will use on one of the two men in jumpsuits on their knees next to him.  He has done it before, so we know what the result will be.  First the picture; then the government reaction; then the parents of one of these poor people crying and begging for a life to be saved.  It has to drag on for days.  The content varies with the hapless individuals who manage to get captured driving around in what has become some of the most dangerous territories in the world for journalists.  

The message is shown repeatedly, analyzed, and commented upon in print media to embelish the story.  A small production studio, in God knows where, manages to take the headlines from really important events because the perpetrators kill in cold blood.  On the world stage this is about ratings, though not the kind of ratings that advertisers necessarily pay any attention to.  These are snuff films, in case you have never heard the term.  Some little boy or girl is captured by a gang, is raped, mutilated, and killed on film for the benefit of those who pay for this kind of thing.  Some people must watch them, because they are still being made.  They are just different kinds of terrorists, but terrorists none the less.  

We have to stop the people who benefit from this by turning them off.  If ratings really matter, we have to change the channel when a new crop of victims show up on the screen.  We have to say to ourselves, "I will not be a party to this."  By watching, you are part of it and a part that the terrorists want to reach.  Making a person feel that they are not safe, or a friend is not safe, or a whole country for that matter, is their intent.  

Terrorists are competing for public attention when they commit their acts of violence, kidnappings, and murder, but the press is facilitating it.  Our free press is willing to publish most things that will keep the ratings up.  I would invite you to do two things:  (1) turn the channel.  It doesn't even have to be for long, and let the station or carrier know you don't want to see that kind of thing on your children's television again.  It encourages bad behavior.  (2) write letters to the editor about print versions of the same stories that benefit terrorists, but don't benefit us.   Our press is complicit in spreading this kind of thing.  

If this is the path to heaven for even one man, there is something wrong with religion.  Few would believe their God was inclined to encourage this type of activity, nor allow it to be videotaped and spread around the world.  Turn it off.