My first thoughts in this situation, are the same this time as they always are, they are with the families and friends of the victims. There are no words right now, that will soothe their pain, or ease them through what will be one of the hardest, toughest times they will ever go through.
My second thought is the same one I have every time somebody uses one of the T words in this kind of situation. The T words being terror, terrorist and terrorism. Whether the crime fits the definition of terrorism or not, I will not used the T words to describe it. This was a crime, an act of premeditated murder. Even describing it that way is emotive enough. The fact that the perpetrator committed suicide in the act, just means that it saves the expense of a trial and the ongoing cost of keeping him in prison. Rather than face human justice, the perpetrator convicted himself in the highest court of all, and all he did in the process was to allow the gods and goddesses to send him into his eternal damnation much sooner than originally planned.
My last thought here is simply this. Carry on as normal today. Don't let this or any other criminal act of this magnitude change who you are or what you do.
Showing posts with label murder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label murder. Show all posts
Tuesday, 23 May 2017
Sunday, 5 October 2014
Gold Star Award: The Independent On Sunday
Up until now, I’ve only handed out “awards” for the worst, and the things that are wrong, but it is often better to reward the things that are right, or excellent. So with that in mind, I’ve decided to hand out some much more positive awards here on Viewpoint, and it starts today, with a Gold Star Award, which I will hand out to individuals or companies who do something truly right, something exceptional, something that exceeds expectations, and is worth rewarding.
Today’s Gold Star Award winner is the Independent on Sunday, for their perfect front page today covering the murder of Alan Henning by extremists. I could describe it, but I think the brilliance of it, can only be demonstrated by showing you the front page itself.
Now, how’s that for dealing with propaganda? I’d say, that’s the perfect way to do it. Congratulations, the team behind this wonderful front page of The Independent On Sunday, you win Viewpoint’s first ever Gold Star Award, and richly deserved it is too.
Friday, 24 May 2013
Viewpoint Extra: Woolwich murder
As a follow up to my post, I am glad to see that at least one politician agrees with me about not allowing fear to win, and even quotes the Koran verse 32 chapter 5 in showing how Islam is not a violent religion...
"If anyone kills a human being it shall be as though he killed all mankind whereas if anyone saves a life it shall be as though he saved the whole of mankind."
The full story is here.
Thank you, Nick Clegg, for being a voice of sanity within the madness.
"If anyone kills a human being it shall be as though he killed all mankind whereas if anyone saves a life it shall be as though he saved the whole of mankind."
The full story is here.
Thank you, Nick Clegg, for being a voice of sanity within the madness.
Woolwich Murder and the problems of using the wrong word.
It's no secret that a lot of us have felt something in the wake of a soldier being murdered just outside of Woolwich Barracks in South London. The story has some unique oddities to it anyway. No criminal of any kind hangs around waiting for the Police to pick them up, and only the dumbest think that the police will kill them rather than capturing them. Also, not since the days of the Northern Ireland troubles have the armed forces been a regular target for murder in this country. So, this is an unusual case all told.
But the media, especially the press, and parts of social media have been bandying about the words "terrorist" and "terrorism" in relation to this murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, a member of the 2nd Batallion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
It is far too easy to use the words terrorist and terrorism, in situations where we just don't know the full back story. The security services had picked up one of the suspects before, and one is believed to have converted to Islam. However, no killing done in anyones name, never mind the name of God, is justified. Calling it terrorism, or the perpetrators terrorists, is giving credence and credibility to their complaints, which is the last thing you need to do. In some cases, it might actually glorify their actions and their motives, and that is a definite no-no.
And just as bad, is several facebook postings that crop up all over the social network from pages and organisations with agendas of their own, shared by well meaning people who do not realise what these postings really mean. Some of these posts that get shared espouse racial hatrid, contain statements attributed to politicians that were in fact never made by those politicians, and do nothing to help solve the real problems of the world. In fact, some of these posts are borderline incitement to violence against other people. Be very careful what you share, some of these posts are close to or borderline illegal.
What happened was a murder. That is emotive enough. Calling it terrorism is too emotive, it provokes fear and anger, which is exactly what these people want. They want us to be afraid, they want us to be angry. It's irresponsible, especially for this Conservative government and the media, to do the radical's job for them. They should be more responsible and not use over-emotive words, that do the radical's bidding. For the Conservative government, that's their modus operandi, provoke fear, emotionalise everything, divide and conquer. For the media, it's all about sales, ratings, numbers. They think emotionalising the story will get better ratings, more sales.
The best thing to do, is actually to de-emotionalise and de-editorialise this story. It was a murder. The murder victim was a serving soldier, two men charged at police, they were arrested. Those are the pure undiluted facts. Calling it terrorism, or butchery as one columnist in the Telegraph did, is emotionalising and editorialising the story. Now a newspaper columnist can do that if they want. But if they feel like they should do things like that, then do it about a week or so afterwards, not in the relatively immediate aftermath, up to 72 hours after the event.
The English Defence League amongst others are not helping this whole situation by declaring war on extremist preachers of Islam. That will do nothing to decrease tensions.
In short, never call it terrorism. Never call them terrorists. You will give them what they want.
But the media, especially the press, and parts of social media have been bandying about the words "terrorist" and "terrorism" in relation to this murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, a member of the 2nd Batallion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
It is far too easy to use the words terrorist and terrorism, in situations where we just don't know the full back story. The security services had picked up one of the suspects before, and one is believed to have converted to Islam. However, no killing done in anyones name, never mind the name of God, is justified. Calling it terrorism, or the perpetrators terrorists, is giving credence and credibility to their complaints, which is the last thing you need to do. In some cases, it might actually glorify their actions and their motives, and that is a definite no-no.
And just as bad, is several facebook postings that crop up all over the social network from pages and organisations with agendas of their own, shared by well meaning people who do not realise what these postings really mean. Some of these posts that get shared espouse racial hatrid, contain statements attributed to politicians that were in fact never made by those politicians, and do nothing to help solve the real problems of the world. In fact, some of these posts are borderline incitement to violence against other people. Be very careful what you share, some of these posts are close to or borderline illegal.
What happened was a murder. That is emotive enough. Calling it terrorism is too emotive, it provokes fear and anger, which is exactly what these people want. They want us to be afraid, they want us to be angry. It's irresponsible, especially for this Conservative government and the media, to do the radical's job for them. They should be more responsible and not use over-emotive words, that do the radical's bidding. For the Conservative government, that's their modus operandi, provoke fear, emotionalise everything, divide and conquer. For the media, it's all about sales, ratings, numbers. They think emotionalising the story will get better ratings, more sales.
The best thing to do, is actually to de-emotionalise and de-editorialise this story. It was a murder. The murder victim was a serving soldier, two men charged at police, they were arrested. Those are the pure undiluted facts. Calling it terrorism, or butchery as one columnist in the Telegraph did, is emotionalising and editorialising the story. Now a newspaper columnist can do that if they want. But if they feel like they should do things like that, then do it about a week or so afterwards, not in the relatively immediate aftermath, up to 72 hours after the event.
The English Defence League amongst others are not helping this whole situation by declaring war on extremist preachers of Islam. That will do nothing to decrease tensions.
In short, never call it terrorism. Never call them terrorists. You will give them what they want.
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Reporter attacked because she was black.
To say I am angry about this story would be putting it mildly. I am sickened by the actions of those who thought they could intimidate a local news reporter and scare her off a genuine news story, because the reporter happened to be black.
The reporter's name is Charmayne Brown, and she works for CBS-affiliate WSPA News Channel 7. Another news crew from NBC affiliate WYFF News 4 was also on the scene, and like WSPA's crew, they were covering a local story in Union, South Carolina about a murder of an elderly man in Spring Street in Union. The murder victim's grandson had been charged with that murder. It turns out, two of the people who attacked Charmayne, were relatives of the man charged.
Here's the video, courtesy of YouTube. But be warned, I do not believe that this video is suitable for anyone with a nervous disposition.
To me, this is media intimidation, or an attempt at it, with racial undertones at the very least, if they're not overtones. Both WYFF and WSPA report this story, and WSPA anchors Amy Wood and Tom Crabtree have both blogged about this story. I totally agree with Amy. You attack one journalist, you attack us all. We are supposed to be impartial observers, but I happily put my usual impartiality aside for this. I hope these people get the full weight of the law down on them. They have made for themselves more enemies around the world than you could ever possibly imagine.
The attackers names have been released by local police. So, Trina Vinson, Tousha Smith, Billie Taylor and Ronald Harris of Union, SC, you are today's Worst Persons In The World.
The reporter's name is Charmayne Brown, and she works for CBS-affiliate WSPA News Channel 7. Another news crew from NBC affiliate WYFF News 4 was also on the scene, and like WSPA's crew, they were covering a local story in Union, South Carolina about a murder of an elderly man in Spring Street in Union. The murder victim's grandson had been charged with that murder. It turns out, two of the people who attacked Charmayne, were relatives of the man charged.
Here's the video, courtesy of YouTube. But be warned, I do not believe that this video is suitable for anyone with a nervous disposition.
To me, this is media intimidation, or an attempt at it, with racial undertones at the very least, if they're not overtones. Both WYFF and WSPA report this story, and WSPA anchors Amy Wood and Tom Crabtree have both blogged about this story. I totally agree with Amy. You attack one journalist, you attack us all. We are supposed to be impartial observers, but I happily put my usual impartiality aside for this. I hope these people get the full weight of the law down on them. They have made for themselves more enemies around the world than you could ever possibly imagine.
The attackers names have been released by local police. So, Trina Vinson, Tousha Smith, Billie Taylor and Ronald Harris of Union, SC, you are today's Worst Persons In The World.
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