OT: The Beheading Videos

[Ash]

These videos and the news of the beheadings of two Americans and one South Korean have been all over the news recently.

I have seen the videotaped execution of Nicholas Berg and just yesterday (6-23-04) I viewed the quick beheading of Kim Sung Il.
I have only seen the photos of Paul Johnson after he was decapitated in Saudi Arabia.  No video of that killing was ever released to my knowledge.  
I imagine that the VHS tape of it is locked away in a cabinet in an Iraqi terrorist's place of residence somewhere.

They are not very pleasant to watch...but since many of us have watched gory stuff on the movie or TV screen like "Dead Alive" I think you should be able to take it.
The lasting effect they have are the thoughts that will run through your mind about all of it and what it would be like to experience it for yourself as either one of the victims or one of the terrorists.
At least that's what I did, I tried to put myself into the shoes of each side and try to see it both ways.

Granted, they were all abominable events and I don't condone murder in any form. (and yes I do think those terrorists deserve to die for what they did to those men.)

I just couldn't help but think of every side of the issue.
I wondered if maybe one of those masked terrorists possibly felt a slight twinge of guilt and/or pity or empathy for the victim.
You know what I mean?  The terrorist or terrorists might think it in the back of their mind but they don't dare say anything.
They keep it within.

If you want to watch the videos, here are the links to them...they are on a rather, ahem, adult website so I would watch them at home.

Nicholas Berg video:  
http://www.consumptionjunction.com/content/detail.asp?ID=34947&type=1&page=1&fav=0
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Kim Sung Il video:
http://www.consumptionjunction.com/content/detail.asp?ID=36037&type=1&page=1&fav=0

I just wanted to say that I hope I have not offended anybody by writing this Off Topic thread and by posting the links to the videos (and Andrew I hope I haven't p**sed you off by bringing this topic to your phorum)
It is not my intention to offend anybody.  These are real life events that we see and hear about on the news and I am looking for honest and mature opinions here.

I was wondering if any of you have seen the videos of these atrocities and what your opinions are of them.

What effect do you think these murders are having on the world population...especially in America?

Have you refused to watch the videos?
If so, why?

Let us know.



Post Edited (06-24-04 01:29)

[Gecko Brothers]

I can't watch these videos. I do watch gory films. The thing is that like in Dead Alive you can watch the actors in other films in the future so the gore becomes funny. However these horendous acts of butchering and inhumane treaments I can't handle. I will get sick mabey cry for another lost of life. These terrorist will deserve what they get in the end. I hope they get it bad. This is coming from someone who doesn't really approve of the death sentence, but the fact that they video taped it and repeated to do this. They deserve the worst.

[BeyondTheGrave]

i watched  both the videos ash. i really dont know  why i did i just did. i think the videos just gives more power to the terroristes that they can take down america that we are "weak". i think that with each of these executions most americas get more and more dislillusioned with the war. i also have to agree with gecko they will get thiers in the end.

"I know I know ive been exposed permeant psychoses..
at least the colors are nice"- Aeon Flux

[Fluffy Catfood]

I've seen these vids before, they really just angered me and made me wish that those terrorists would get back what they did and worse. As stated above, some people may become dissillusioned by the war, but this does the opposite to me. I'm against the war yet seeing those people murdered for no reason, makes me want the war to pick up, I want these zealots blasted into dust.

[Susan]

I don't see a need in watching the  video, I have great empathy for other people's pain and it kills me to see real images of someone's suffering. It doesn't take something like that to give me more conviction one way or the other on terrorism or what have you. I think watching it just provides some deep seeded need to watch the grotesque. That's a real person, no violence i've ever been exposed to in gorey movies will desensitize me enuff to be able to view images of someones last moments alive. i'm still traumatized from having seen 9-11 on television and all those people die. All it does it sadden and disgust me...because I can so easily put myself in the shoes of those in their last moments. I wouldn't want my death televised for someone elses viewing pleasure...for any reason. the fact those video's are circulating is repulsive, i hope to god those families of the victims never run across them - can you imagine if that was your father or brother? Their life would be forever marred by the memory of their horrible death, particularly if you had to see it.



Post Edited (06-24-04 06:37)

[odinn7]

I can agree with Susan almost word for word on this. I'm a grown man but when I saw the horror those maniacs caused on 9/11/2001, I cried. All the sensless tragedy that was caused to innocent people and their families, it is indescribable how I felt and still do. My opinion on this topic? I believe there is something wrong with someone that can watch these videos and look at them from the terrorist point of view. This isn't make believe movies we are discussing here...this is real life.

[trekgeezer]

The bit I saw on the news was quite enough for me. The Nick Berg thing really disturbed me. The terrorists are nothing but cowards, or they wouldn't  resort to this kind of thing.  You will notice that the leaders are never the ones  "sacrificing " themselves , this is reserved for the young people they have brainwashed from  youth to hate the West.

I haven't really seen it analysed this way, but the Islamic groups are really just cults of violence. I known many Muslims in my life and I know this crap is not a part of their religion, just like the Aryan Nation is not a part of Christianity  even though they too think they are doing God's work .

[maria paula]

yesterday i read at the newspaper that this korean guy was decapitated, then i saw his  father and mother crying, and i got really really sad, and undone  i was about to cry, it made me feel the same pain that i felt when all those people died in my country at the train terrorist attack . juts two days before i watched on tv this guy crying and begging for his life. now he is dead.
im  a resident dr, i have done lots of anatomic practices with corpses , and tho   i have been doing this for a long time still its difficult for me to keep doing it, still its hard to see how somebody dies for some desease or just for an accident, so i cant  imagine myself watching someboy killed on tv, i  could never stand it.
i hate this ward, all the pain  and hate that it s bringing , its just horrible. i wont watch this videos, i totally agree with susan and odinn7.



Post Edited (06-24-04 15:57)

[daveblackeye15]

Just because we watch a lot of gory movies doesn't mean we can stomach these videos. The only reason I can watch gory movies is because they're not real, it's just a bunch of actors and special effects. Unlike Evil Dead those are real people dying and when I see that happening it feels like I've been shot through the heart. I hope they pay for this.

[BeyondTheGrave]

odinn7 wrote:


> My opinion on this topic? I believe there is
> something wrong with someone that can watch these videos and
> look at them from the terrorist point of view. This isn't make
> believe movies we are discussing here...this is real life.

since i was one of the few people on this topic who saw the videos, i hope your not talking about me. i live in NYC so i know first hand what happen on 9/11 as well as my mother working for NYPD and me being a police cadet for NYPD. i apologize if you werent talking about me odinn7 it just that  i did sort of write like i was seeing it from thier point of view but i really wasnt. i was just looking at the impact it would have on american society. again iam sorry if you arent talking about me.

"I know I know ive been exposed permeant psychoses..
at least the colors are nice"- Aeon Flux

[odinn7]

Don't sweat it Rich, it was clear to me what you meant in your post...I wasn't referring to you in mine. I know you are in NY and the impact 9/11 must have had on you is unimaginable to me.

[raj]

I've seen some of the photos, and they were enough.

And from an Aussie newspaper column (via Andrew Sullivan):
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,9893010%255E25717,00.html

" I can't guarantee the interview is accurate or even genuine. . .

 Al-Nashami says he and his "brothers" shot their way into an oil company compound, where, as police confirm, they killed a British worker and tied his body to their car.
He says they drove on until "the infidel's clothing was torn to shreds and he was naked in the street . . . and everyone watched the infidel being dragged, praise and gratitude be to Allah."
The terrorists then stormed a second compound, and found an "American infidel".
"I shot him in the head, and his head exploded. We entered another office and found one infidel from South Africa, and our brother Hussein slit his throat. We asked Allah to accept (these pious acts) from us, and from him." "

[Acidburn]

In my opinion, these men should be drug into the streets and quartered.  Then treated and kept alive untill they were strong enough to have other thing done and not die from them.  (For those of you who do not know, quartering is having your arms and legs tied up and each tied to a horse, or car it would be now, well use your imagination.) So if you cannot see what I am getting at, simple death is to good for these monsters. Torture sounds just about right, and I would gladly be the one doing it.

[Ash]

I don't know...maybe I've been exposed to too much violence in the media and on TV.

Watching the videos didn't really phase me all that much.
Like I said before, it was mostly the thoughts of all parties involved in those murders that went through my mind.
The afterthoughts are what got to me.

And yes Susan, I and others out there do have a sort of morbid curiosity that drives us to watch videos like these.
I was horrified and fascinated at the same time.
That sounds bad I know, but it's the truth and it doesn't make me or any others bad people.



Post Edited (06-24-04 16:53)

[Susan]

Ash, I've probably seen more violent movies in my lifetime than you but I don't think that necessarily determines whether or not a person is desensitized to real life violence. I can watch movies with heads being lopped off, because it's in the context of fantasy (altho some movies where it borders on the realistic feel i can become really shocked)

When i see an image of someone's suffering or death it's impossible for me to be indifferent to it, i always see them as a person. someone who was once a little kid that clutched his mom and stood on their dad's shoes. Someone who never imagined they'd grow up and die as brutally or suddenly as they do, I just don't understand the curiosity in seeing the moment that was stripped away from them.  
I hope to god i never reach a point where i'm unphased by suffering or death.



Post Edited (06-24-04 17:29)