A War of the Mind

All of us by now have heard news of the three hostages in Iraq. Two of whom have already been beheaded (Eugene Armstrong, Jack Hensley), and Kenneth Bigley who may be in the process of being butchered as I write. Horrific thought isn't it? But that is the point.

When the first beheading of Nick Berg took place, like many of you in a fit of emotion I rushed to take a peek at the video. My thinking was no matter how awful it may be it would be a good dose of reality to see the horrors of terrorism for myself. Well, I have to admit that I had to turn it off. And after reading the posts of others who saw it, most agree that they wish they had never viewed it.

Although I'm ashamed to admit, I had even offered a link for my readers to download it. I could not believe the tens of thousands of hits I was getting just to see that video. Very soon however my mood turned into sadness and shame and I immediately removed the link.

My initial reasoning for linking to the video was that it would be good for the public to see first hand the reality of Iraq. I thought that it might help deter the war mongers. In fact at the time Blog Bloke had been riding the fence, but after viewing the video it convinced me all the more that it was an unwinnable cause.

The next morning when I awoke I was deeply troubled, and not just from the horrific images that I had seen the night earlier. I realized that I made a mistake. I had played into the terrorist hands and was now a partner in distributing and promoting their monstrous agenda. And what if a young child had viewed it? Just think of the consequences.

Think about it for a moment. It is because of technology that terrorists are so effective in organizing and promoting their evil agenda. They use cell phones, GPS, internet chat lines and email to communicate their terrible plans. It is technology that gives them a public platform to offer digital videos for viewing or downloading from websites.

It is a war of the mind and these are the real weapons of war - not guns or bombs. Take away that technology and they would be back in their tents tending goats.

So how do bloggers help the terrorist agenda? By visiting their websites and providing links to view or download their videos. Terror is only effective if it can create terror. And they do that by providing horrific videos to intimidate and influence public opinion and government policy.

Take away an audience and the circus animal will cease to perform. If nobody will look at their horrible videos they simply won't make them any more. Make sense? It does to me. So I’m challenging all of my fellow bloggers to not help these monsters.

Mainstream media can also help by not promoting their news broadcasts to increase ratings with tantalizing clips about their monstrous deeds. So long as the media gives it a soap box, the terrorists will continue its grisly murdering spree.

Terrorism is like wildfire. It only exists under ideal conditions so long as it is fed by oxygen and heat. It feeds on itself until it is starved and the fire will die. Likewise, if we deny the terrorists their platform they will cease. Is it a total solution for terrorism? Of course not, but at least it's a start and something that we bloggers can actively help.

And so my fellow bloggers, the Bloke is asking that you not play the terrorists game. I am also asking my mainstream media cousins to do the same. Accordingly, Blog Bloke will NOT be offering any links or images of the terrorists' murderous deeds - period.