The nation's establishment press is virtually ignoring the existence of horrifying and officially approved Islamic State videos showing the executions of accused homosexuals and adulterers.
A search this morning at Google News on "Islamic State gay" (with "Islamic State" in quotes, showing duplicates) for items appearing since January 14 returned 83 results. Roughly 30 of them are directly relevant, and almost none are from U.S. establishment press outlets. As usual, the British tabloids and new media outlets are ahead of the game. Here are several paragraphs from the U.K. Daily Mail's coverage (bolds are mine):
Thrown to death... for being gay: Expert argues ISIS's latest abomination betrays radical Muslims' new thirst for killing in the name of justice
- Horrific punishment for 'homosexual activities' shown in grisly new IS clip
- Masked IS fighter seen bundling two blindfolded men off the top of a roof
- The victims, presumably killed, land 100ft below in front of all-male mob
- Events took place in Mosul, third largest city in Iraq, now under IS control
The depraved, sadistic horror of the latest videos and photographs posted on the internet by Islamic State (IS) is almost impossible to contemplate. They show two men bound and blindfolded as they are manhandled to the edge of a rooftop parapet. Their only ‘crime’? To be gay.
A masked IS fighter announces into a microphone that the two prisoners have ‘engaged in homosexual activities’ and must be punished in accordance with Islamic, Sharia law. In the square about 100 feet below, a large, all-male mob has gathered.
Then the grisly carnival proceeds as, one by one, the men are thrown from the roof. A still shows one victim in a sitting position, mid-flight. In another, both lie on the ground motionless, presumably dead.
Then there is a video sequence which, if possible, is more shocking. A woman shrouded in a black burka is dragged across a sandy area, pulled by a white cord tied round her waist. Her voice, punctuated by terrified, breathless gasps, can be heard pleading with her captors.
Then, in a grove of dusty trees, the fighters hurl large rocks at her. The final image shows her body covered by a tarpaulin. Her supposed ‘crime’ is said to have been adultery.
... Homosexuality is a capital crime in Islamic countries including Iran, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. Capital punishment can be applied for adultery in Afghanistan, Iran, Northern Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and the UAE.
A 9:30 a.m. search using the same words as noted earlier at the Associated Press's national site, but without quotes, returned nothing. The same search at the New York Times returned nothing relevant. I found no indication in a 9:45 a.m. review at AP of Islamic State-related stories for the past four days that the wire service has mentioned IS's latest executions.
Mollie Hemingway's contention in the wake of the press's failure to show the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, even after the Paris massacre on January 7, almost certainly applies here:
Journalists are absolutely terrified of Islamic extremists.
... We should not be told the self-censoring is a matter of principle when it’s a matter of abject and degrading fear. It is even understandable that journalists would be terrified. But they shouldn’t continue to tell us a story that isn’t true. That they’re terrified of Muslim extremists is important.
Even if they won't publish photos out of fear, we should be hearing and seeing acknowledgments of the facts accompanied by admissions that new outlets won't publish or put forth all of the gruesome details out of fear. The alternative is a complete failure to communicate the truth.
It was horrible enough that CNN's Eason Jordan only admitted in 2003 that it self-censored for well over a decade in its coverage of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime in Iraq. The Islamic State and other Muslim terrorists around the world are even more willing than Hussein was to kill those who will not submit to its sharia regime by the thousands. Sanitizing situations such as these to the point of outright censorship ultimately endangers everyone.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
