James Foley killing - a fake?

Ok... Srsly!

I have an agenda reopening this blog.

1: I do not have the time, or *effort* of creating a new blog.
2: Critical thinking needs to be promoted.
3: General lack of common sense is pissing me off.



Now - to something way more serious than my personal pet peeves.

HEADLINE: ISIS BEHEADING US JOURNALIST JAMES FOLEY

The headline comes from among others CNN and other major networks. Every major news source seems to be jumping at the story, without thinking even a little bit about what is actually going on, or - more importantly - giving people a chance to create their own opinion. Is this what journalism has become?

It's simply too convenient to take something at face value and run with it. Simple really. No need to ask questions. It's a murder right? And a murder committed by a terrorist organisation! Let's just take that youtube video and go with it.

First off - let me make myself clear. I do not condone any violence by anyone. My heart goes out to the family of James Foley, and I am truly sorry for their loss despite my ramblings here about critical thinking and the failures of today's journalism.

However, if James Foley were a family member of mine, I would not be so quick to give up hope and proclaim him dead - at least not unless I were privy to information not released by the media.

Let's take a good look at that video that seems to be the only source available to the general public:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=686_1408487672

(Link only since Blogger doesn't seem to support LiveLeak videos and all Youtube vids seems to be censored)

This is the most complete video of the murder I have been able to find. To me it looks like something right out of a snuff movie. The editing is professional, you have several camera angles, etc. However, the crucial part is omitted.

Had this been a shaky handheld camera I might have thought it more trustworthy. Had they actually shown a murder - a no doubts, no movie magic murder I might even have believed it. Had a body been recovered I would have done as CNN and posted a headline proclaiming ISIS BEHEADS US JOURNALIST JAMES FOLEY.

Now to what actually pisses me off:

Nowhere on Google or other major search-engines you can find any articles, forum posts, or headlines questioning the truthfulness of this story. Nothing! I refuse to believe I am the first person in the world to doubt this video and write a blog post about it. Possible, sure - extremely unlikely however. That tells me something.

This is propaganda. Propaganda from some entity that has major search-engines in their pockets. Possible? Sure, Extremely unlikely? Maybe.

That is why this rambling blog-post is written. I want to search it and see if I get a hit. Simple as that.


Anybody, journalist or otherwise, out to speak the truth (or otherwise for that matter) deserves better than being beheaded while forced to read a scripted message on camera. Everyone deserves better than being fed propaganda without the means to question it.