Commentary

Take Terror Attacks Off the Front Page

One of the truly unfortunate consequences of the brutal terrorist attack in Mumbai, India is the inevitable blast wave of theories that is unleashed as to why it occurred and who was behind it. Every cable channel seems to have its own roster of terrorism experts at the ready to explain the latest in carnage affairs. The wild and crazy world of the Internet, which completely burns, then buries the qualifications bar, is chock-full of quarter-baked speculation.

I will relay some information that I found in a Washington Times article on the Mumbai attacks. The only surviving militant, Ajmal Qasab, told interrogators that he and the other nine in his group learned combat, navigation and hostage-taking skills in Lashkar- e-Taiba operated camps in Pakistan. The article mentioned that this organization was outlawed in 2002 after Pakistan received a wag of the finger from the Bush administration (I will spare you the predictably cynical comment that would follow such an absurd revelation).

So, where is my part in all of this? I am not an expert in the field of terrorism. I do not claim to offer reasons for these unconscionable acts of barbarism. But, it seems to me that massive terrorist attacks that kill innocent civilians are here to stay. People the world over love to hate the bloodshed – we can’t look away.

Given that so many people tend to obsess over violence and misery, how could terrorists give up on such a successful marketing technique? Which begs me to ask: what if there was a massive terrorist attack, and the media failed to show up? What would the terrorists do if everyone ignored their murderous antics?

Therefore, I boldly suggest that media bans on filming terrorist attacks be instituted in all countries that don’t already have all-out bans in place. I’m not suggesting that more governments follow North Korea and Zimbabwe’s lead, but I think it would be interesting to report terrorist attacks on the third, fourth or fifth pages of major newspapers, and to stop news networks from running these atrocities as lead stories. (I know that this is a violation of First Amendment rights, but please bear with me.)

The reason I say this is because millions of people in both developed and developing countries die each year from causes that rarely meet the standard of “Breaking News”, compared to the several thousand that perish as a result of terrorist attacks.

I think putting death at the hands of religious fanatics ahead of the really destructive effects of what we all choose to ignore allows us to shift focus, and therefore priorities. Just look at how much the U.S. government has spent on defense and homeland security after 9/11 – a front-page event. This allowed us to believe that fighting terrorism from abroad would save more lives than providing adequate essential services, such as healthcare, at home. This is a million miles past crazy.

I know that massive terrorist attacks will always make headlines and will continue to provide cheap, yet riveting content for the cable news industry. So I suggest that when the next strike occurs, we skip the front page of the newspaper and avoid CNN, MSNBC and FOX altogether. If everyone did this, it might actually reduce the incentive for terrorist organizations to perpetrate such heinous and cowardly acts. Then again, maybe I’m two million miles past crazy.

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© 2008 Splendid Marbles.