Refusing to Watch Foley Video Avoids Exactly What?

originally posted by: SLAYER69
a reply to: DarknStormy

For me that all depends on the context.

If it's about innocent people *Especially Children* being hurt/killed by no fault of their own I get very upset however, if it's a "Here, hold my beer" type moment and they end up screwing themselves up or worse by actions of their own stupidity.

I chalk that up to a Darwin learning curve moment for the rest of us.

Yeah I'm the same, if people do stupid crap and it backfires I'm on board also.. I think I'm in shock sometimes also because I don't know how some of them are so dumb. But I was leaning more towards the war side of things where innocents seem to be butchered on a regular basis these days and in the most brutal ways.

Semi related thread just posted by seabhac-rua


Liveleak Stops Showing IS 'Beheading' Videos

a reply to: SLAYER69

Basically, I think it's a matter of personal choice. Some people will watch for a multitude of reasons. Some people will decide not to watch it for a multitude of reasons.

I don't think they should ban them, as horrific as might be...it is a reality that we live in. What I do not like is for it to be shoved down our throats without a warning. Just this morning, someone shared a video that mentioned "Must Watch" and so I did. Only to see a kid on a bike get hit by a car and be instantly killed. Must Watch?? How about a warning you sick mo****...??

For a lot of people, unfortunately, gruesome death is entertainment.

As for Foley's video, I willingly chose to see it. Not out of fun, not out of curiosity but just to try and understand what could motivate someone to do something like this to another human being.

It angered me to no end. But it shouldn't be banned. It should be a choice to see it or not. A personal choice. JMO.

I think people should at least watch the dialogue, it gives insight into what he was feeling at the time. I have been hearing a lot of people say that he said those words because he thought they might spare him and that James was naive to think that, this bothers mne when people say this. He knew what was going to happen to him and he showed more bravery than any of us would in the face of death, he did not want give them what they wanted with crying and begging. Just because some of us can't understand how someone could be so calm in the face of death, doesn't mean they are NAIVE.

originally posted by: roadgravel
Pretend that evil really doesn't exist. It should shock and make people feel bad in order to get rid of the apathy and make us all work toward a better human race. But, given human nature, that probably isn't possible, lets just go back to the every thing is alright thinking and hope the bad does touch our life.

What about the future for your children?

I agree, the more we sit back and ignore these things the longer they are going to continue for. Even worse, it may even hit us head on one day and we wont be able to ignore it. How would we deal with it then?

a reply to: SLAYER69

i kinda agree with the badger.

if the isp's, youtube. twitter. facebook, or any others that allow these videos to be posted would stop them. it would be much harder for them to get them out into public view. i know at in this day in age it would be impossible to stop it completely, but it could be made harder for them. i also realize that they have been doing this for many years prior to the net. but back then these were sent to governments and news sources and it was then a more need to see /right to see thing. I'm sure that many have never came onto the light of day public wise.

So lack of publicity has always stopped murder and crime. I did not know that...

I have seen plenty of these videos. I get nothing resembling entertainment from them. Anyone who watches these videos and gets a kick is sick in head.
I don't think they should be censored or banned. People need to be able to see the world as it is.
I can't help thinking after seeing most of them, why should we cower to primitives that don't even know how to sharpen a blade? Have they never heard of a wet stone?

a reply to: roadgravel

It's not simply murder though, it's a message, and it's meant to create an emotional response.

The way most people are responding is exactly the response they want..

Ignoring it may not be the answer, but we shouldn't play into their hands either!

I am to much of a conspiracy theorist to watch these video's, especially after watching the Nick Burg video and the controversy that followed. I believe that the PTB want us to watch the videos because it horrifies us and makes us WANT protection from Islamic Extremists. I do not want protection from anyone so why give into fear tactics.

Should it be made public to watch? Yes. Some are good at examining these videos and it would be helpful to have an opinion on the videos validity rather than taking whoever has an agenda to make us afraid's word for it.

In general it seems as though the public at large would rather put their hands over their eyes and pretend like everything is just fine. The reason i think it's important to allow these types of videos to be posted online is specifically to do with information. Censoring gruesome violence doesn't make gruesome violence disappear, it just encourages people to think so. This applies not only to the unfortunate death of James Foley, but to scenes of innocents being killed in Gaza, or the war in Iraq, etc, etc. Removing these images/videos from the internet due to their extremely graphic nature is yet one more form of media censorship. Something a free and open society has no place for.

Graphic images *usually* come with a warning of some kind, and that should suffice. If one doesn't want to watch, don't click the link. Personal choice is paramount. No one is out there forcing others to view graphic images, and on the alternate side no one should take away another's ability to view something as raw and real as an execution by extremists. Those threats are real, and the evidence of such heinous crimes exist in the form of videos and images that are now being actively censored on media outlets around the web. Censorship sucks. Reality is not always pretty or wholesome for family viewing. That doesn't make it any less real.

I watched the video. It made me feel sick, and the images don't quickly exit the mind. My heart aches for the family of James Foley. I hope they are eventually able to find peace with what has happened to their loved one.

It reminds me of the beheadings from the guillotine when crowds of people would come to watch or the hangings or lynching's of days gone by and the Gladiator battles or the gun fights at dawn in the Old West, etc...Apparently, some cultures have evolved past those "events of entertainment" and some have not. The sad part is that there yet remains something in human nature that is still grotesquely attracted to brutality.

No, I would never watch that video with some sick expectation of being "horrified," or getting some kind of cheap thrill. Maybe that's the question to ask? What is it in human nature that is drawn to that?

a reply to: SLAYER69

I didn't watch it, but I think it should be made available for those who wanted to watch it.

Censoring horror doesn't remove horror.

It just hides it.

"Out damn spot"

a reply to: FlySolo

Shakespeare

I didn't watch it, not because I refuse to, I just have no interest in it, I read the articles describing it didn't make me curious or anything.
There's a website called 'Best Gore', it's a type of site that showcases various ways people died, videos, coroner photo's, stories, news updates, etc. It's a pretty gruesome website, but after about the third time I visited it just sunk into me that death isn't pretty, even if it's a brutal murder, or just someone dying of old age, it's not going to look nice and that's the reality, and it happens everyday.

Either way, it's unfortunate for this who got killed in that manner. Hope his family is coping well.

a reply to: SLAYER69

Personally speaking, i do not need to see them as humans killing humans in reality does nothing for me.

Whereas if i knew it was just a film, i would be all over it! Not sure if that makes me hypocritical or just messed in the head but there you go........

As to others watching it.....i do not really have a problem with it. I suppose you could argue it is just another extension of Freedom of Speech (or Expression). Each to their own really! It just nothing for me personally.....

(nothing like a bit of fence sitting!)

originally posted by: Flavian

(nothing like a bit of fence sitting!)

I find myself sometimes at odds with myself too on many topics this one included. Seeing and understanding both sides of an argument isn't always easy.

Euthanasia, State Execution, Legal Abortions so on and so forth.

a reply to: Slayer69

I would never watch something like that.
Would you want people to watch this if it was your execution?

Would you want your family to see you die and how you died?

I wouldn't.

I won't out of respect.
I won't because obviously they WANT you to.

a reply to: queenofsheba

It's not that people are drawn to something as gruesome as a beheading. It's that information should remain free and uncensored, no matter how terrible or great it may be. Censoring the video because of it's extremely graphic nature will not make ISIS stop their tactics. Nor will it remove acts of rampant violence from the earth. The best way for people to understand how brutal war is without having to survive one themselves, is to show them raw, real, uncensored images of what war is. Simply put as long as there is violence in the world, these types of images will always be there. A constant reminder of just how inhumane humans can be to one another.