Some people on our side of the fence — the conservative/Counterjihad side of the fence, that is — seem to think that the factual truth of any propagated anti-Islamic material is irrelevant, as long as it makes Islam look bad.
Since Islam produces a plenitude of authentic, verifiable material that makes it look very, very bad, it seems pointless to use unsourced sensationalist videos and photos to make a point about all the horrible things Muslims do. Why bother using atrocity footage of obscure origins when the Islamic State produces dozens of its own official atrocity videos, celebrating all its Islamically sanctified gore and slaughter?
To be indifferent to the “mere facticity” of what we publish is to adopt an attitude that “the ends justify the means.” Such cynicism is typical of Communism and Islam: as long if it serves the cause of the World Revolution/Ummah, it doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not.
I don’t agree with that position. The truth is important. Ultimately, it’s what will set you free.
I do my best make sure that any material I post is well-sourced. If I engage in speculation, I label it clearly as such. If I make an error of fact, I publicly retract it, no matter how painful and embarrassing it is to do so.
So I’m with Vlad Tepes, who posted his thoughts on all this earlier today. Some excerpts are below:
The problem with writing on Islamic atrocities.
If you imagine the most horrific thing human beings could possibly do to each other, even well beyond the most gory of horror films, non-supernatural ones at least, and then ask a friend to add details to make it worse and then post it as if it was news about what religious muslims do to other people in the name of islam, then chances are it has happened recently, or sometime in the past, or likely is about to.
This is a testament either to how awful Islam is as a motivating ideology as well as a wonderful testament to how poor our own imaginations are when it comes to doing awful things, that it takes a lot of effort and most of us never could have imagined the things we see frequently now.
Even so, a thing is either true or it is not and while it is increasingly difficult to know the difference, it remains an important distinction.
There are lots of sites that gleefully post anything that makes Islam look bad without verification and no link to sources. Some of those have turned out to be scenes from actual horror movies. Others may have been legit and others pure fabrication by someone on social media.
Does it do any good to the cause of waking up the West? Maybe or maybe not. But it certainly does none for the cause of reason, truth and integrity in what one does, and one would hope that is why we do this in order to preserve those values.
Videos were sent to me this morning that are too awful to see without sufficient warning. They are symptom inducing for people who already have PTSD this condition and could help bring it on for people who don’t but see enough of this I would imagine. Once again there is no source etc. given. Reluctantly, ill put a link to the Liveleak here and here. [See Vlad’s post for the links, if your morbid curiosity gets the best of you.]
But then you get mainstream news sources that are every bit as bad in terms of the effect it has one the victims, but not as horrifically presented post hoc. In other words, the people shown are dead either way. And so one can’t help but wonder if presenting horrifying material that may not be true as it has no source and the focus is so bad that it could easily be staged, actually negates the value of showing the truth to people as they get jaded to this kind of information once they find out that some of is staged.
Hard to say. History shows that propaganda works even, and perhaps especially if its pure fiction. Global warming, nuclear winter, ozone holes, ‘911 is an inside job’, the list is long.
Read the conclusion at Vlad’s place.
Note: After he posted the above essay, Vlad says a contact sourced one of the two gruesome videos as being (a) old and (b) from Mexico.
Also: For a previous example of what Vlad is talking about, see this post from 2011 about a hoax that fooled a lot of people.
Spreading rumours of atrocities may have worked in the past, to galvanise people into a reaction – eg during the First World War. The trouble was that, soon, too many had manipulated that idea for their own propaganda purposes. I once read that during World War 2, one of the arguments for the West not spreading word about the fate of the Jews was that people may think it to be deliberate propaganda, leading to the opposite effect.
And so it is that today, especially among young people with a cynical view of their own countries and culture (but with an ultra-tolerant view of everyone else’s) may be inclined to counter any talk of atrocities, by saying “the West did just as bad”, “it’s just a tiny minority”, etc etc. They may not be able to prove any of these points, but such arguments may appear convincing to many… The same happened with talk of other Islamic-style phenomena such as grooming – which for years wasn’t even mentioned, despite it going on in so many British towns and cities. Yet eventually, after the report about grooming in Rotherham surfaced, people did start to talk. There was nothing new happening in Rotherham – except that the scale of these incidents was revealed – at least 1400 girls affected, in a town of 120,000 people (around 10% of all girls in the age range concerned).
There was no counter-argument to be found. The fact that grooming was a serious problem was now indisputable. And hence, even some of my acquaintances on the liberal-tolerant side of the spectrum started discussing it. To conclude, in this battle of ideas, it’s these types of arguments that may have the biggest impact. Not the photos/videos, repeated a thousand times over. Not reports of crimes in some distant parts of Britain or the US. But the cold statistics. The quotes from well-known “moderates”, showing them up to be Taqiyya-mongers. Or anything that exposes the scale of the problem, the facade of the “Religion of Peace” or which, in any other way, shatters the underlying foundations of the world-view of the typical “tolerant” Westerner. This imo should be our priority – along with putting this message out to the greatest amount of people, in the most effective manner.
The rumours of atrocities in WW1, if you mean the terror tactics used by the Germans against Belgian civilians, were true, despite subsequent efforts to discredit them.
Oh, and “ozone holes” were/still are real.
Baron, one of the reasons I am devoted to this site is because of your honesty and honor. Long may you live and long may you speak the truth about the horrors of today’s world.
I thank you and Dymphna.
A COMMENT & A QUESTION:
Meister Eckhart (d. 1327) is not always to be quoted, yet he is wise in this: “If I had to choose between God and Truth, I would choose Truth . . .”
Would it be prudent (that is, both wise & helpful) to point out those on “our side” (sources, sites) who are not so cautious and prudent? So one is, thereby, educated towards what one views.
For example, viewers should be educated regarding this sudden fashion for beheading. It certainly is not an exclusive specialty of Islam. A Doomsday Book can be written of its use among Thirty-Year War Christians, French Revolutionaries, Russian Marshals pacifying Siberia & the Far East, various Pre-Columbian tribes, let alone Chinese Dynasties. But Islam is unique – among literate peoples – in which beheading is a theological tenet, embedded in the very revelation of its god’s character and nature. An act of beheading stands the believer in communion with Allah: it honors the god, and the god, through it, honors the believer. (Which is – unlike those Mexican beheadings – an Islamic beheading is done according to specified, strict rubrics.)
In view of the above, if web site viewers were better educated (to the theological points) they would feel no need to attribute Mexican drug war beheadings to the likes of ISIS. How quickly, for instance,we have forgotten the Satanic cult murders in Matamoras, Mexico, which were not – not in the least – an act of Jihad. By awarding drug war beheadings to Islam’s Jihad we are diminishing their own horror, their own particular evil.
ISIS’s point, when it comes to (the very sacral act) of beheading is the theological one – which, in fact, is the more frightful aspect of this “new atrocity fashion”.
“when it comes to (the very sacral act) of beheading” Not “sacral”, but “cervical.”
I agree 100% with the need for truth and accuracy. Once a site publishes a single false story the rest of its information loses credibility. I wish Eloykim at Jews News would take heed of this message.
I’ve read several comments in the Media that the reports and pictures of be-headings seem to have raised the awareness of many Americans, much like the attacks of 9/11. But the alarms of that day seem to have faded into the distant past, and I never thought that would happen. Silly Me. Until we have a better plan, I guess we’ll have to keep shoveling out the decapitation photos. Or maybe we can find some videos of Muslims torturing dogs.
We await an event closer to home to become aroused to anger. Boston was not close enough to Washington. Neither Texas nor New York! It must come to the backyards of many Americans at the same moment who have children. Those without children can simply hide under rocks until the danger passes, though some may not do so out of ethical considerations.
Truth matters because it permits response events in the world. It is as dangerous to shout that there is no fire when one is blazing away and it is to shout ‘fire’ when there is none. Truth is a question of safety for both the individual and the society.
When truth is taken as something to be manipulated for political ends, it becomes useless. A simple doubt improperly placed within a factual statement is enough to reduce the possible response to a shrug of the shoulders. “Go right! or may left!”
Sooner, rather than later, words stop eliciting actions, no matter how true they are.