It troubles me to see press reports that inflate the ingeniousness of terrorist attacks. In a post yesterday, I was critical of reports that called the attacks "well-coordinated" when it seemed to me that the attacks were "sloppily done and mostly unsuccessful."
Today, I'm seeing a NYT banner headline: "FRANCE SEEKS BELGIAN MILITANT AS MASTERMIND OF PARIS ATTACKS." Whoever participated in the attacks is despicable. Why glorify him as a "mastermind"? A "mastermind" is — I'm quoting the OED — "An outstanding or commanding mind or intellect; a person with such a mind" or — and this is most relevant here — "A person who plans and directs a complex and ingenious enterprise."
I don't see complexity and ingeniousness. The attackers didn't invent the communications systems or the modes of encryption that must have made it possible to say today's the day. They didn't assemble the crowds in the restaurants or concert hall or stadium. And they didn't figure out how to get anywhere near President François Hollande.
Why inflate the reputation of these people? Even if you respect the value of propaganda, how does it serve our interests more than theirs?
November 16, 2015
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208 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 208 of 208If he's not a mastermind then how dumb are we if he can get away with said attacks?
"DanTheMan said...
>I have changed mine to show compassion for those who lost their lives in Paris."
>>So it's all about you. Got it.
How do you possibly get that from my statement? You have it exactly backwards.
After 9/11, the French honored our dead by declaring "Today, all are Americans".
Was that the French saying "It's all about us?"
SO you changing your blog avatar is the same as the French government supporting the US?
Okee dokee.
quite an busy fellow in the course of the last year,
http://www.dhnet.be/actu/belgique/attentats-de-paris-abaaoud-le-lien-entre-toutes-les-affaires-infographie-564a1acd3570bccfaf15c875
The only coordination is in these stories, which are to make our governments seem less incompetent than they are, or worse, to make them seem like they are not acting against the interests of the citizens they supposedly represent. The supposed compact (created and imposed by the state) concerning the state protecting us from others in exchange for its boot on our necks and runaway taxation has been breached by western states worldwide. Exhibit A: Runaway mass immigration is just a vote getting scheme by feckless leftists, that ain't working out so good for the locals.
Blogger rhhardin said...
"Beyond the Fringe" has a famous bit involving a "mindmaster." (rhymes with wind)
I don't see it on youtube.
Actually, it was "mindermast." Check the comment at 2:33 pm.
This complaint seems a lot like the pushback on journalists after mass murders, to not allow the killers to be glorified.
I think that's a valid point, but often overplayed. People kill for varied and complex reasons, and the "fame" aspect is at most a small part of the motivation in most cases. And when it is a factor, it's a twisted idea in the mind of the killer and trying to get inside the head of a mentally unstable person is a fool's game.
Similarly, the terrorist's aims are more complicated than the desire for glory. Certainly that is part of their propaganda, but they will spin how they spin with or without the NYT and WaPo. I just don't see why the wording matters because normal rational people see no glory attached to the creation and implementation of a murder spree, and the irrational and evil people who are susceptible to viewing it that way will do so without a care for the opinions of our journalists.
I find this whole argument too similar to the president's concern that we are "feeding into their narrative." There's also the risk that we look like Baghdad Bob when we try to pretend this was not a big deal.
An "interview" with the mastermind.
"feeding into their narrative" is either one step above or one step below "made you look" and "i'm rubber you're glue" as ... anything i care about. when they're dead and sobbing, then we'll see about their narrative.
if ultimately they are daring us to kill them all because we haven't got the guts...well, some of us have.
the japs thought they'd fight to the last man too.
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