American Hostage Beheaded

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  • Jonathan
    Senior Member
    • Mar 2004
    • 1229

    American Hostage Beheaded



    An Islamist Web site showed video of an American hostage in Iraq being beheaded by members of insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group.

    The group gave a new 24-hour deadline for its demand that Muslim women be released from Iraqi prisons or its other hostages will be killed. The group previously released a video of three hostages -- included two Americans and a Briton.

    On Saturday, the Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera broadcast video of the hostages with their abductors giving a 48-hour deadline for their demands to be met.
    "How can someone be so distracted yet so focused?"
    - C
  • sdjl
    Senior Member
    • Mar 2004
    • 502

    #2
    I know beheadings are a sickening and distressing thing to hear about.
    They are totally inhumane and a cowards way out.

    But... Does anything ever get mentioned in the US about how many Iraqi (or non-US civilians) have been injured, killed or incapacitated due to the war?

    All i seem to see in Feed Demon from the US press agencies are news titles like "US soldier killed" or "US reporter kidnapped".

    How about info like:


    Being in the UK, one of the more prevalent news agencies is the BBC. We get an unbiased view from all sides from the BBC folk. I'm just wondering how much of an unbiased view you get over there?

    David
    -----
    Do you fear the obsolescence of the metanarrative apparatus of legitimation?

    Comment

    • Jonathan
      Senior Member
      • Mar 2004
      • 1229

      #3
      Everything here is biased against.
      All we hear of are the bad stuff against foreigners in Afghan & Iraq.

      Not once have I heard nor seen anything bout how we're doing
      good in the mainstream news or television.

      However, on Discovery TIMEs ~ they did have (only seen it on TV twice)
      an documentary on National Guard (Reserves) Special Operations teams
      in Afghan, and it showed how they switch off from hunting Taliban one
      moment, to helping build local schools, give out food & toys, etc. the next.

      Oh and it was amusing to watch Chuck the bank man turn into
      Krazy Chuck Something fun bout watching an Accounent shoot off explosives...
      "How can someone be so distracted yet so focused?"
      - C

      Comment

      • Buddha
        Senior Member
        • Mar 2004
        • 825

        #4
        Originally posted by sdjl
        Being in the UK, one of the more prevalent news agencies is the BBC. We get an unbiased view from all sides from the BBC folk. I'm just wondering how much of an unbiased view you get over there?
        Several years ago I wrote a program that scrapes websites and creates a newsfeed basically this was before RSS was popular. Right now it scrapes more than 100 urls. It includes the BBC and every english arabic site I can find. I'll include sites in arabic as soon as I can learn to read it. Can't say I'm having much luck learning arabic, 28 letters some of which change shape but I keep trying everyday. Every media outlet has a bias IMHO including the BBC. The only way around that bias is to take in as much news from as many sources as possible and apply some common sense.

        The rest of my opinions on this subject I'll keep to myself.
        "Whatcha mean I shouldn't be rude to my clients?! If you want polite then there will be a substantial fee increase." - Buddha

        Comment

        • Frank Hagan
          Senior Member
          • Mar 2004
          • 724

          #5
          Originally posted by sdjl
          I know beheadings are a sickening and distressing thing to hear about.
          They are totally inhumane and a cowards way out.
          Well, that's an interesting take on it. "Inhumane" and "cowardly" are not the words I would use.

          Originally posted by sdjl
          But... Does anything ever get mentioned in the US about how many Iraqi (or non-US civilians) have been injured, killed or incapacitated due to the war?

          All i seem to see in Feed Demon from the US press agencies are news titles like "US soldier killed" or "US reporter kidnapped".

          How about info like:


          Being in the UK, one of the more prevalent news agencies is the BBC. We get an unbiased view from all sides from the BBC folk. I'm just wondering how much of an unbiased view you get over there?

          David
          America has a completely free and unfettered press, that is not afraid of libel suits or worrying that an opinion will be labled hate speech. So you can find any and all of the information you are asking about. The problem with the American press is at the end of this message.

          The BBC has a definate bias, just as all humans do. They are center-left for England, which is hard-left for America (being a much more conservative country).

          Our left is very active, and they do cite statistics like the body count site, and like that site, they consider any civilian deaths ... even ones due to malnutrition, insurgent bombs and bullets, or land mines left over from some earlier time ... to be the fault of the US. In fact, there isn't much that ISN'T the fault of the US. You can read those things in most major daily newspapers, some of which are decidedly center-left in their orientation. If you wish, you can read the far left publications (there are probably more communists here in California than in the former Soviet Union!)

          You have to remember the 12 - 14,000 is a very low number compared to our left's predictions of 25,000 American troops lost and 100,000 civilians in Baghdad during the invasion. Their dire predictions didn't come true, although I was worried that they would. Having 125,000 people die is a horrible thing. 12 - 14,000 is also horrible. The question is if its more horrible than the alternative. History will be the judge of that (losing more than that in a single day has been deemed "good" in some cases in prior wars, but I guess its "who's bacon is being saved" that counts.)

          And the problem with the American press? Its fragmented. You can easily choose your information feeds so that you only get news slanted to your particular viewpoint, although it does take some work to ignore all the other voices. But it can be done.

          Comment

          • sdjl
            Senior Member
            • Mar 2004
            • 502

            #6
            Originally posted by Buddha
            Several years ago I wrote a program that scrapes websites and creates a newsfeed basically this was before RSS was popular. Right now it scrapes more than 100 urls.
            That sounds like an interesting program. It sounds a little like the google news system that pulls news from many agencies around the globe

            Originally posted by Frank Hagan
            And the problem with the American press? Its fragmented. You can easily choose your information feeds so that you only get news slanted to your particular viewpoint, although it does take some work to ignore all the other voices. But it can be done.
            See this is one of things that i can't really see for myself. Yes i could do a big search for the many different US news agencies and add them all to my news aggregator. But i'm just using some of the default news agencies that came packaged with Feed Demon.

            My previous post was in no way a snipe at the US press agencies or to any of you, the US people. I'm just curious as to how the news gets reported over there. I think there's a perception here amongst us Brits that the US news agencies only report what they want the US to hear. Or in some ways, what the politicians want you to hear.

            I have no real account of how things work over the water but in November i'll be making a trip to New York. Maybe then i'll be able to understand how the different agencies report news and what they feel is important to say

            David
            -----
            Do you fear the obsolescence of the metanarrative apparatus of legitimation?

            Comment

            • Buddha
              Senior Member
              • Mar 2004
              • 825

              #7
              Originally posted by sdjl
              My previous post was in no way a snipe at the US press agencies or to any of you, the US people. I'm just curious as to how the news gets reported over there. I think there's a perception here amongst us Brits that the US news agencies only report what they want the US to hear. Or in some ways, what the politicians want you to hear.

              I have no real account of how things work over the water but in November i'll be making a trip to New York. Maybe then i'll be able to understand how the different agencies report news and what they feel is important to say
              When your over here in November remember half of America doesn't even vote and the half that does is extremely polarized. The media to some extent reflects this. IMO the most unbias news source you'll find over here are those dealing with finance - numbers don't lie. Most people I know get their news from local TV news or the local newspaper. So check out the local news.

              My program scraps Google too.
              "Whatcha mean I shouldn't be rude to my clients?! If you want polite then there will be a substantial fee increase." - Buddha

              Comment

              • Jonathan
                Senior Member
                • Mar 2004
                • 1229

                #8
                Originally posted by Buddha
                When your over here in November remember half of America doesn't even vote and the half that does is extremely polarized. The media to some extent reflects this. IMO the most unbias news source you'll find over here are those dealing with finance - numbers don't lie. Most people I know get their news from local TV news or the local newspaper. So check out the local news.

                My program scraps Google too.
                Can it scrap all these news sources into an RSS/XML feed?
                "How can someone be so distracted yet so focused?"
                - C

                Comment

                • Jonathan
                  Senior Member
                  • Mar 2004
                  • 1229

                  #9


                  Another was beheaded
                  "How can someone be so distracted yet so focused?"
                  - C

                  Comment

                  • Buddha
                    Senior Member
                    • Mar 2004
                    • 825

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Jonathan
                    Can it scrap all these news sources into an RSS/XML feed?
                    It could would just need a different output function. Scraping, analysis and output are three different functions.

                    Been working on the next version with more emphasis on analysis and output. All this info does no good if it's not organized.
                    "Whatcha mean I shouldn't be rude to my clients?! If you want polite then there will be a substantial fee increase." - Buddha

                    Comment

                    • Jonathan
                      Senior Member
                      • Mar 2004
                      • 1229

                      #11
                      True.. if you can get it to turn all of it into a organized
                      RSS feed (much like Yahoo! News does) do tell.
                      "How can someone be so distracted yet so focused?"
                      - C

                      Comment

                      • Courtly
                        Member
                        • Sep 2004
                        • 35

                        #12
                        What must be remembered about North American news is one simple thing...

                        News is a BUSINESS, not a service, here.

                        Thus, the popular slants will always have a louder voice, and will always sway a larger percentage of the ignorant. This is due to the simple fact of monetary backing.

                        To make matters still worse, due to the thoroughness of the two-party illusion in the U.S., any 'fringe' news sources that are not slanted "left" or "right" are discounted as being irrelevant.

                        If you find yourself speaking to an intelligent North American, I find you're dealing with someone with the guts to read enough and make up their own mind. But I don't find the majority of my fellow North Americans to be very intelligent.

                        (sigh)
                        Ok, you guys start coding.
                        I'll go find out what the customer wants.

                        Comment

                        • Jonathan
                          Senior Member
                          • Mar 2004
                          • 1229

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Courtly
                          But I don't find the majority of my fellow North Americans to be very intelligent. (sigh)
                          Ditto
                          "How can someone be so distracted yet so focused?"
                          - C

                          Comment

                          • -Oz-
                            Senior Member
                            • Mar 2004
                            • 545

                            #14
                            I read BBC and Yahoo! News (which gets me AP and Reuters).

                            This is war. 1000 US Soldiers die in over a year. In one battle in WWII 1000 dead was a good day, same for Vietnam.
                            Dan Blomberg

                            Comment

                            • Jonathan
                              Senior Member
                              • Mar 2004
                              • 1229

                              #15
                              Originally posted by -Oz-
                              I read BBC and Yahoo! News (which gets me AP and Reuters).

                              This is war. 1000 US Soldiers die in over a year. In one battle in WWII 1000 dead was a good day, same for Vietnam.

                              Yahoo! News usually has a mix of Reuters & AP.
                              As for the death # ~ most people are afraid of just that.

                              They are afraid it is turning into another Vietnam
                              before our very eyes, real time played out on TV live.
                              "How can someone be so distracted yet so focused?"
                              - C

                              Comment

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