By now we've all seen various versions of the killing of a wounded insurgent by a marine. I'm not really interested in debating the morality of what the soldier did - I try hard not to judge the actions of people who are being shot at - but it is interesting to note how the media is covering the issue.
1) The "mainstream" media has shown an edited version of the video that does not display the most graphic portion - the actual shooting of the insurgent.
2) Arab media, traditionally far less squemish, is showing the full version, flying brains and all.
3) Fox News is, or has been, ignoring the story, while it appears to have no problem having its reporters posing beside the bodies of recently killed insurgents in an effort to show how well the war is going.
I'm of two minds on this issue. On the one hand, I've seen enough videos of people getting their heads blown off to last me a lifetime, and I don't like death being exploited for any political stance, even if it's a stance I agree with. On the other hand, there isn't the slightest question in my mind that the West is getting a heavily filtered and sanitized version of the war, which has its own political purpose as well.
1) The "mainstream" media has shown an edited version of the video that does not display the most graphic portion - the actual shooting of the insurgent.
2) Arab media, traditionally far less squemish, is showing the full version, flying brains and all.
3) Fox News is, or has been, ignoring the story, while it appears to have no problem having its reporters posing beside the bodies of recently killed insurgents in an effort to show how well the war is going.
I'm of two minds on this issue. On the one hand, I've seen enough videos of people getting their heads blown off to last me a lifetime, and I don't like death being exploited for any political stance, even if it's a stance I agree with. On the other hand, there isn't the slightest question in my mind that the West is getting a heavily filtered and sanitized version of the war, which has its own political purpose as well.
