The Dark Shadow Shrine

embrace the darkness; that you may see the light nestled within it......

Thursday, February 05, 2015

To show or not to show? Judge it yourself.....


When it comes to social media, it is usually high on the visual, a notable exception being twitter. And we all know that pictures speak a thousand words. Would the impact of the video released by the ISIS on the live burning of the Jordanian pilot have been so great if the report was rendered in words? Would we have been able to feel the horror and fear of the burning if we did not see with our own eyes the video footage, but merely read about it in words?
Given this, should there be some form of censorship exercised? We would have played into the hands of the terrorists if we had shown the full video, esp the gory parts, because that's what the terrorists want -- for us to feel afraid. The media has long since been used as a platform for terrorist groups to spread and inspire terror in viewers, in the hope that this will cause viewers to apply pressure on their govts to give in to the terrorists' demands.....It is exactly because of this that major media stations chose NOT to air the controversial video of the burning hostage released and 'slickly' produced by the ISIS.
But there is another school of thought. Can we say that instead of fear, showing the video causes anger and shows us the true face of the ISIS, that it is doing something not condoned by Islam or humanity, and thus warn misguided youth about joining it? This, at least, is the argument put forth by Fox News when it chose to show the video of the Jordan hostage being burnt alive; this, despite other major media stations choosing not to screen the entire video footage. By the way, you want to know that Fox News is a good example of a media company that has a history of doing controversial things and resorting to sensationalism to boost ratings, unlike more respectable cousins like the CNN.

You can watch the video at this link if you want, and judge your own reactions to it. But be forewarned --- the video is indeed quite gory, and not for the faint-hearted. Watch it before it's taken down......click HERE  fast forward to 18.00

Vocab: note last sentence of ARTICLE 3 which contains the expression 'architect of its own destruction'. A similar one to this is 'victim of its own creation'.

Qn: The media is largely to blame for the worldwide increase in violence. Do you agree?


ARTICLE 1








ARTICLE 2










ARTICLE 3