Many journalists and Tweeters asking that the screengrabs from the Sotloff beheading

[justiceischeap]

not be shared or shown. Sadly, CNN is ignoring this plea for decency (according to Charlie Cooper).

Jacky Rowland ?@jackyaljaz 1h
Steven #Sotloff: Aljazeera English will not show any images from #ISIS video purporting to show killing. Hope other media take same position

Charlie Cooper ?@cwhcooper 5m
Can media outlets like @CNN stop showing screengrabs from #Sotloff video? #IS is loving it.

Michele Ortell ?@shortz27 5m
#Sotloff Do not give #ISIS what they want-DO NOT WATCH THE VIDEOS!

Umar Lee ?@STLAbuBadu 4m
Please don't share the #Sotloff video. Don't pass along #ISIS porn.

Bosko ?@WorldOpinion 27m
If you've seen one beheading, you've seen them all. As protest, don't view the #sotloff video.

Karen Zacharias ?@karenzach 1h
Please do not share videos of beheadings. You serve as a pawn for #ISIS when u do. #Sotloff

[Iggo]

1. Just say No to death porn.

[C Moon]

17. +1

[cwydro]

2. Cannot imagine how sick

one would have to be to want to watch that.

[Hemmingway]

3. It's not about "wanting" to watch it.

We need to see what they're doing to understand what we are up against.

[justiceischeap]

4. Dude, please.

We don't need to see a beheading to know what a beheading is. We've all got the general idea of what a beheading looks like. The media does not need to play the clip over and over again like they do with mass shootings. If there is a message that needs to be learned by the American public, they can translate it (if needed) and read it on-air but they DO NOT need to show the video or stills.

On Edit:
And what's this "we" shit? I'm not going to fight them, are you? "We" don't need to see anything. The US Government does but the average American public does not.

[Hemmingway]

5. Transparency in all things.

If we are going to be fighting ISIS, I want to know why.

[kysrsoze]

8. You really need to watch a snuff video to know why? Perhaps you should read more.

[sabrina 1]

21. Did you feel that way about all the innocent Iraqis we killed but were NOT allowed to view

the corpses? Some great photo journalists were there, not an easy thing to do since Bush etal tried to ban journalists unless they were tightly controlled, called 'embedded' with the military.

I saw the bodies, too many to count, the babies we killed were the most heart-breaking.

The way I see it, if we are paying to kill people and especially if were all 'rah, rah, let's go get those (fill in the ethnic slur), we, or THEY should at least be willing to look at how 'got' them, never mind they had nothing to do with 9/11 and did not have any WMDs.

I won't be supporting this latest invasion if it happens either. All that killing, now over 13 years of it, and we are told 'we are in greater danger than ever'. Thanks to Feinstein and Rogers for that quote.

So what the hell is going to be accomplished by repeating what we have been doing for all those years and failed so miserably to accomplish? Well, failed to do what THEY told us we were doing. THEY didn't fail, they are rich, rich, rich with the blood money they took from the American tax payer.

[Rockyj]

29. All the FEAR created by the WAR MONGERS & Corporate Media...

...are really supporting the Military Industrial Complex. They don't want war to end! What a better way to control us with this ever changing groups of terrorist as our enemies. They can keep us under constant surveillance as they continue to take away more of our freedoms.
WE need to rethink who are the real terrorist.

[Hemmingway]

31. Yes.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Seeing actual video of a beheading evokes emotions in response that you cannot get by opening the

nearest dictionary.

Whether those emotions lead to a better or worse place is up to the viewer, but to assume that we 'know what a beheading looks like' isn't helpful either.

For me, it brought out empathy for the victim that I would never have felt otherwise. It's as close as you can get to feeling the knife bite into the side of your own neck.

That brought me a profound level of understanding, beyond passing by a news story headline about some faceless nobody I'd never heard of, beheaded by some assholes I have never and will never encounter in my life. A moment of empathy for him, and his family/friends/co-workers that I would never have otherwise stopped to express.

[CJCRANE]

25. The exact same trchnique is used to radicalize jihadis.

They encourage them to watch atrocity videos.

That's why I was shocked when the MSM went full on with the Syria chemical attack video. They even showed it in split screen when Kerry was making a statement.

That's when I realized that we were entering a new neocon era and that the MSM is complicit in terrorizing us.

[AtheistCrusader]

27. That's what I meant by 'whether it takes us to a better or worse place'.

Such videos can fuel the drums of war, and make it all worse. I have no doubt of that.

[LanternWaste]

9. What specifically leads you to believe their actions cannot be understood unless pictures are involv

What specifically leads you to believe their actions cannot be understood unless pictures are involved?

[uppityperson]

11. They are murdering journalists by cutting their heads off. Why would you need to see the act of

murder to understand it?

[Chan790]

30. Disagree.

One of the tweeters in that post got it right.

Bosko ?@WorldOpinion 27m
If you've seen one beheading, you've seen them all. As protest, don't view the #sotloff video.

I know, I used to work mountain rescue and wilderness search...it wouldn't be the first headless DB I've seen. However, their propaganda stunt falls flat and they might just quit it if they see it's not getting the result they want.

[C Moon]

18. I didn't even want to see the picture of him on his knees.

It's very troubling that people are okay with watching something like that.

[AtheistCrusader]

28. I watch it.

But I wouldn't say I'm OK with it.

I see it the same as people going to view a state execution, even if it is simply to feel, and express outrage that the death penalty was used at all.

[Generic Other]

6. Since when can't our government do a DOS attack on them?

Isn't that what sometimes happens on DU?

[anti partisan]

7. Michele Ortell ‏@shortz27 5m #Sotloff Do not give #ISIS what they want-DO NOT WATCH THE VIDEOS!

That is not what they really want. What they really want is the US to declare an all out war on ISIS so they can grow exponentially with all the now-peaceful people who they could potentially recruit.

[AtheistCrusader]

15. That is precisely what they want.

And precisely why they want it.

[CJCRANE]

10. Boycott terrorist propaganda MSM

until they listen.

The same goes for social media.

[saidsimplesimon]

12. Give these sick twisters of religion no quarter

These terrorists represent no religion. They are not Muslims. They are criminals who kill civilians and journalists. Cowards one and all

[malthaussen]

13. I've been saying this for years.

Terrorism thrives on publicity. The media have been giving it to them for years.

First thing I would do is stop naming names of terrorists organizations. If a hotel is blown up, the response should be to report the fact, but not make mention of who is claiming "credit" (really? "credit?&quot , or of their "demands." Instead, we turn them into friggin' heroes.

Of course, now with unlimited Internet, that kind of non-response is less likely to have an effect. They can advertise for themselves. So, naturally, the media must publish every exquisite detail they can, to generate revenue.

-- Mal

[Volaris]

26. ...to generate revenue.

And therein lies the problem. I think we need a law that says if you're a brodcast, cable or radio station that provides a "news" service, the income generated by those blocks of time MUST be donated to charity or put back into the newscast in some fashion ( and no u can't get a tax write off for it), the whole thing must be revenue neutral, no profit allowed.
Compete for the accolades of doing news well and of good journalism, but not for profit.
It should be publicly subsidized to some extent if necessary, and considered a form of Public Service.

[shanti]

16. no desire to see any beheadings

one was enough. several years ago, there was a mentally ill man in st. vincent who beheaded his ex-gf with a machete when she was exiting a bus. the photos were all over the internets. you can't unsee something like that and i'll not make that mistake again.

[Paper Roses]

19. I agree. The verbal shock is horrible enough.

We don't need to see this horror too.

[Rhiannon12866]

20. Thanks for the warning...

[PatrynXX]

22. Free speech

did I just wander into a freeper site? I've actually had Republicans who love their guns refuse to watch real people get killed. I did view some of the pix of the downed plane in eastern Ukraine there was some folks getting miffed at well raw footage twitter pages. it's raw. unedited. if they are viewing them why are they complaining. erosion of free speech is not cool. It's my free speech to turn away, should still be posted , sorry for the freeper reference but kinda shocked this is here..

[justiceischeap]

23. What's so shocking about wanting the MSM not to be exploitive in their coverage?

No one is suggesting they don't tell the story, it seems to me they're asking for decency in the way the story is told. The MSM has discretion in what they do or do not show when telling the story--they can be exploitive or decent about it. I see nothing wrong in asking for decency--especially when all IS wants is to shock the American people and see their handy work all over the MSM and social media. There's already someone who keeps reposting the actual images of Sotloff after beheading on Twitter, so if someone really wants or needs to see it (for empathy) it can easily be found.

MSNBC has chosen to use this image of Sotloff to tell the story on Twitter (I've not watched TV, so I don't know what they're showing there):


Do they really need to show him on his knees in an orange jumpsuit for the American public to understand he was murdered by beheading and that ISIS is bad?

[bigtonka]

24. No death porn!