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Should I have viewed Pearl's death?
National Post ^ | July 16 2002 | Alexander Rose

Posted on 07/16/2002 2:06:23 PM PDT by knighthawk

The other day, from the comfort of my office, I watched a man's head being severed and, with his eyes peacefully closed and bottom lip slightly sagging, held aloft by the hair.

You can watch it too, if you like, for the video of Daniel Pearl's murder is freely available on the Web. An alternative paper, the Boston Phoenix, linked to a Web site hosting another Web site -- admittedly, a despicable, vile one -- that carried the footage. Yesterday, the creature who organized the killing, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was himself justly sentenced to death by a Pakistani court.

The Pearl footage isn't what has been called a "snuff film," since those are urban myths. This was real. The execution of The Wall Street Journal reporter is the triumphant climax of a short video released, obviously, by the al-Qaeda front-group which arranged it (currently touting itself as the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistan Sovereignty). Coinciding with the soundtrack of Pearl's voice are images of Ariel Sharon, George Bush and the various other stock visuals that periodically compel mobs of bearded, besandalled Middle Easterners into bursts of Two Minute Hates. Just in case we don't get the hint, Pearl's words, "I am a Jew," are replayed a dozen times.

His voice is calm, but he sounds rushed, as if he is reading from a script and wants to get it over with. At the time, Pearl must have believed that if he issued the boilerplate denunciations of himself, American imperialism and Zionist domination he would be released. That was never on the cards. He was kidnapped to be killed. It's strange to think that Omar -- a man who loathes the West -- is being allowed to appeal his sentence (how Western!), whereas an innocent man was never afforded the same opportunity.

The video targets potential Islamist recruits who find the decapitation of a Yid and a Yank (what a glorious double whammy!) ghoulishly thrilling -- a real turn-on for the kind of people who would otherwise be gang-raping village women and speciously claiming it is Allah's will. Its blunt, emotive imagery is designed to appeal to the illiterate, the wrathful and the stupid. More sophisticatedly (relatively speaking, of course), it is also supposed to frighten us with its subplot about the vengeance that will be visited upon the West if we do not heed Pearl's doom.

Now, we are all familiar with the rather repetitive and frequently self-serving freedom-of-speech argument about censorship, so I will not bother wasting time debating whether the video ought to be banned. It exists, it will not go away and that is all there is to the matter. I am more concerned with the question, should I have watched it?

Let me answer that. Unless one is doing so purely for prurient reasons, I think it is important to watch people die. To do so is a task certainly not suited to all temperaments, but there are times when literary description -- no matter how minutely detailed -- is insufficient to describe and realize the monsters lurking in the realm of horror and evil. The most powerful and visceral medium for transmitting indescribable -- literally -- experiences is that of sight. For this reason, even at the risk of giving them nightmares, it is necessary for people to see obscene, unbelievable, unforgettable images of the Holocaust, the slave-clogged Gulags and, say, severely wounded soldiers missing their faces. Like the Pearl footage, these things must be real: while movies can be scary, we comfortably know that the actors, after being shot, go home at the end of the shoot. But by glimpsing the unedited, absolute perimeter of what humans have done to ourselves, we can not only comprehend the fragility of security, life, civility and happiness but gird our determination to defend them against their foes.

Watching Pearl -- I don't think I deserve to call him "Daniel" -- die is not terrifying, nor is it the worst sight you are ever likely to see. In my case, that dubious honour goes to the several hours' worth of Nazi footage of concentration camp medical and physiological experiments on "volunteers" I watched -- necessarily, for academic reasons -- back at university.

In fact, it is the film's very conciseness that makes the blood boil, more so than with the Nazi films that I soon got used to. More searingly than a thousand words, the quickie pornography of Pearl's end (the execution lasts less than 30 seconds) indelibly demonstrates the savagery, irrationality and mercilessness of this Islamo-fascist enemy.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: catholiclist; danielpearl; video
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1 posted on 07/16/2002 2:06:23 PM PDT by knighthawk
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To: MizSterious; rebdov; Nix 2; green lantern; BeOSUser; Brad's Gramma; dreadme; keri; Turk2; ...
Ping
2 posted on 07/16/2002 2:06:54 PM PDT by knighthawk
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To: knighthawk
You don't actually watch him die since they goofed when they originally severed his head, and had to reshoot and pretend to be severing his head.
3 posted on 07/16/2002 2:10:22 PM PDT by Texaggie79
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To: knighthawk
Many times people tried to post a link of Pearl's beheading here only to have the threads pulled.
4 posted on 07/16/2002 2:11:33 PM PDT by In Search of Freedom
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To: knighthawk; Orual; aculeus; general_re; BlueLancer
John Derbyshire made a similar case here.
5 posted on 07/16/2002 2:17:39 PM PDT by dighton
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To: knighthawk
I could not even bring myself to search for that link...it's nightmore! did you watch it?
6 posted on 07/16/2002 2:20:46 PM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: knighthawk
The author probably would not have watched if he had been my neighbor who grew up near the Pearl family and whose brother was in Daniel's wedding. He remains horrified and traumatized.
7 posted on 07/16/2002 2:22:46 PM PDT by pbear8
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To: In Search of Freedom
I bit the bullet and watched it. It was very disturbing to me because of the seething hatred I could feel for us coming from the murderers. I felt very bad for Daniel Pearl, of course, but was more horrified by the fact that there are people on this planet evil enough to do what they did. Thank goodness they closed his eyes, at least.
8 posted on 07/16/2002 2:23:09 PM PDT by wndycndy
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
I've seen it.

If you want to insert a little reality in your life watch it, then remember that he has a baby and wife at home.
Just be thankful my finger isnt on the button, I would have dropped a couple nukes by now.

People to often think we have to be merciful when in fact the correct response is vengeful justice.

9 posted on 07/16/2002 2:26:02 PM PDT by wallcrawlr
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To: knighthawk
Paid4This: "Should I be able to watch footage of the jumpers from the WTC, or perhaps more importantly, of the area where many of them landed, called "an abattoir" by witnesses?"

American mass media: "No, because that might make you want to go to war to avenge their deaths."

10 posted on 07/16/2002 2:26:09 PM PDT by Paid4This
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To: dighton; aculeus
I have seen the video. It is brutal, yes, but it is not a Hollywood production. It's real. I think it should be made available to all who wish to view it.
11 posted on 07/16/2002 2:26:30 PM PDT by Orual
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Saw it. It is not of the actual execution but shows a few seconds of them beheading the corpse.
12 posted on 07/16/2002 2:27:12 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
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To: knighthawk
But by glimpsing the unedited, absolute perimeter of what humans have done to ourselves, we can not only comprehend the fragility of security, life, civility and happiness but gird our determination to defend them against their foes.

By these words alone.... the title of this thread is answered.
By these words alone.... our standards not falter
by these words alone... we proffer doom upon those who would have our lives forfeit
By these words alone....you shall not trespass my country again.

13 posted on 07/16/2002 2:27:45 PM PDT by Focault's Pendulum
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To: knighthawk
No, Thanks.

I have already seen the 'clean-up' of the Nazi deathcamps.

I will watch the hanging of Pearl's murderers, if it happens.

The pukes who murdered Pearl deserve a tall tree and a short rope.

14 posted on 07/16/2002 2:32:26 PM PDT by LibKill
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To: knighthawk
Watching it will not make me want to destroy the vermin who did this any more than I do now. I'll pass.
15 posted on 07/16/2002 2:35:57 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Orual
The brutal beheading of the russian soldier by islamic chechen bastards is ten times more brutal. i was horrified by both, but glad i viewed them. you have to know the enemy....our enemy is evil. if you dont know who or what youre dealing with, you wont now how to deal with the enemy.
in this case the option is uncompromising, overwhelming force...we have yet to retaliate in my opinion....if we had retaliated properly ...Mecca would be no more. Bastards.
16 posted on 07/16/2002 2:38:35 PM PDT by Delbert
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To: wallcrawlr
Every Arab capitol should have dissolved in a cauldron of nuclear fire on September 12th, 2001. Because this did not happen, it's now an even bet whether or not Western civilization will survive.
17 posted on 07/16/2002 2:40:34 PM PDT by Noumenon
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To: knighthawk
I downloaded several versions, but have not watched it. I don't intend to watch it, but it is important history and should be preserved. Maybe if it will help sway someone to view life as it really is, then I will view it with them.
18 posted on 07/16/2002 2:43:21 PM PDT by Britton J Wingfield
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To: everyone
I firmly believe we should live up to our title of "great satan" and rain nuclear fire from the heavens on the true INFIDELS the islamists. Let's fry the middle east and drill for oil in nuclear survival suits.
19 posted on 07/16/2002 2:50:26 PM PDT by RolandBurnam
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To: RolandBurnam
dittos!
20 posted on 07/16/2002 2:52:32 PM PDT by Registered
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