Kenneth Bigley - why the fuss this time?

ok first of all I'm not setting out to dismiss Kenneth Bigley (check link for full news story) or what happened to him but just to ask what made him so different to all the others?

Why so much fuss over this one man who was no different to any other person killed during the Iraq war.....so why have we not ben able to turn on a TV or Radio over the past 3 weeks without seeing an appeal for his release or some other kind of news story about him?

I blame the media (esp in UK as I can't comment on anywhere else) for giving the Terrorist kidnappers exactly what they wanted - they knew as well as the terrorists did that the UK goverment would not met terrorists demands - yet they still played into the terrorists hands by giving them the media coverage they wanted.

IMHO the media should have just shunned the whole thing - given it ZERO airtime and never broadcast/printed anything about it - yes the terrorists would prolly have executed Ken earlier but lets face it it was always gonna end that way anyways so why give the terrorists any coverage?

So my question is this as well - does media coverage make one person more important than another? Because thats how it seems. You hear everyday about deaths in Iraq - but these are just numbers - once the media puts a face on those figures tho it suddenly credits 3 weeks of air time?

come on am sorry but people need to get a grip and look at the bigger picture...he was one man no different from all the rest - he decided to go to Iraq he was not forced - so why does he deserve your sympathy more than the civilians killed in the war this far??

v_Ln

the sympathy doesn't stem from the fact that he was killed, but how he was killed. personally i would rather get blown up than my head slowly sawed off with a knife.

However, i agree that it got to much coverage. For you philosophy buffs this is called "disaster porn." In which people can't get enough disaster. They actually enjoy seeing news about peopel suffering etc. Now don't take this the wrong way, im not saying people sit around masterbating to a guy getting his head cut off, but rather that they like to hear news about this kind of stuff, subconciously. This is proved in the fact that we watch professional football, wrestling, etc and enjoy watching someone get pounded. For another, it stems from the ancient Romans and how they loved to watch small children get tortured in the arena and enjoyed and even laughed as the child screamed in agony.

News networks know that people will watch their show, buy their newspapers/magazines/ etc if they put **** like this here. Its just how it goes man.

I have to disagree fellas. Even though I disliked with the way the situation was presented to the public, I feel that it is important that the people know exactly what we are facing, and what type of people we are fighting, in the war against terrorism. I don't know how other countries recant history, but I believe that most people in the US today cannot tell you the real reasons for wars conducted throughout history.

For instance most Americans will tell you that the reason for the American Civil War was due to slavery, in actuality the southern states ceceeded from the Union because they felt that they were being unfairly taxed. Don't get me wrong here, it is good that slavery was abolished as a result of this war, but it is wrong for all of the educational emphasis in our school system to focus on slavery as the main issue of the American Civil War.

Another example would be WWII. Most people believe that Hitler was obsessed with killing Jews. And I will admit that there may be some truth in that. But the real reason that Hitler came to power and was able to invade Poland, was because Germany was suffering from an extremely bad economy. Hitler knew that Germany had the most superior armed forces in the land, and he knew that war should have been and easy way to invigorate the German economy. Of course history has shown us that Hitler became too greedy, which was the ultimate cause of his downfall.

History books in our school systems focus on the suffering of people, giving way to false impressions as to the actual cause of various wars conducted throughout history. I would like to see our children learn the real lessons for wars in history, as opposed to the morality of a war or the good that came from a war. If we don't learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat the cycle of ignorance.

The sad part is that one day the US led war on terror will be viewed as war to liberate oppressed muslims, as opposed to a war bent on destroying radical muslims that advocate the killing of innocent men, weomen, and children, in the name of Allah.

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does media coverage make one person more important than another?

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YES.

There has been talk over here for some time of zero publicity for certain 'crimes'.
But the civil liberty tossers still believe that they know best, and that everyone should be told everything............
although the British media DO keep certain things quiet [royal family / footballers on the pi55 / all the 'important' stuff to us Brits]

To go back to when he was first taken, and his family were on the TV, calling the government for everything.........
They were taken away by large men, to a secluded address, and [presumably] told the facts of life.
The next time they were on TV, they read from a script that I could have written, [ I didn't write it, but like soap opera's, it's not rocket science to say the 'right' things] they 'praised' the terrorists and kept calling him by his name and title [dad / brother / son, etc] to personalise him, to make him a human, not a piece of meat.

The belief round here is that the terrorists actually believed that due to the commotion of the first nights TV display, that there was a chance that they could finish off the UK government just as easily as the Spanish government. [train bomb. some dead and wounded. Spain elects a new government that pulls its troops out of Iraq]

After the scripted TV displays, he was kept alive as an embarassment to the UK government, until he was no longer considered worth the effort of keeping.

As an aside: WHEN the US / UK special forces catch up with these 'people' there will be hell to pay when they are killed, and not captured, as it will be apparent that we sent in troopers with clear 'shoot to kill' orders........

In Northern Ireland, the SAS were accused of 'shoot to kill' tactics ?
I personally would have court martialled any that MISSED.
What is the point of all that expensive training if it never gets utilised ?

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Another example would be WWII. Most people believe that Hitler was obsessed with killing Jews.

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Hitler merely used the Jewish community's as a scapegoat, "they are rich whilst we are poor" sort of stuff. Although it is true that he developed a hatred for them during his time in the trenches of WW1. [they - apparently - were NEVER in the front line]
He 'allowed' the German people to blame them for EVERYTHING that was bad / wrong with Germany.
Inflation in the Weimar Republic was at FOUR MILLION % [the Jews fault]
Unemployment was practically compulsory [the Jews fault]
It was cold in winter [you get the picture]

From this, he built an army of support and finally got control of Germany with just enough time before the war started to implement his 'Final Solution'

Allegedly, the original 'solution' was to transport them to Madagascar.............

However, he not only thought the unthinkable, he attempted the unbelievable.........

Which leads us back to the here and now:

The WWW allows us to access data in real time, that only a few years ago would have been impossible. Each day we get more and more capabilities, the terrorists of today, far from being narrow minded and simplistic. Are at the very heart of 'our' IT revolution. THEY, not us, are making the running in what we can and cannot see on the TV screens re:- Iraq.
Our leaders are farting against thunder.

They have thought the unthinkable: [live TV de-capitation............]
Therefore they MUST be attempting the unbelievable............ [WMD, coming to a place near you, SOON]

ABC
Atomic = too costly / time consuming / too static [Iran's nuclear reactors v Israeli Air Force ?]
Bacterialogical = too specialised / time consuming / too open to chance [bugs mutate, not all mutations are harmful ?]
Chemical = cheap [relative] / available / transportable [FedEx anyone ? guaranteed 24 hr delivery, AND you can keep tabs on where it is ...........] / we only defend our troops ? / deployable [fill your back pack up, and go swimming in a reservoir ?]