The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Megathread

[CountDeMoney]

I'm not saying there is no value to on the ground journalism

Sure you are.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Nah, it can help right "human interest stories." I just don't tend to have a lot of interest in those. The big questions of the day in regard to your typical war/crisis aren't actually best evaluated by rolling around in the thick of it, truth be told. Plus there is some vague value to having footage of what's going on, too.

[mongers]

Nah, it can help right "human interest stories." I just don't tend to have a lot of interest in those. The big questions of the day in regard to your typical war/crisis aren't actually best evaluated by rolling around in the thick of it, truth be told. Plus there is some vague value to having footage of what's going on, too.

Ask yourself, would you want to be seen in the same camp as Mono*.






* probably a re-education camp.

[alfred russel]

There are a number of Kurd celebration videos related to the liberation of Kobani out there--this one inspired me to search for more.

http://news.yahoo.com/kurds-isis-victory-dance-video-170028740.html;_ylt=A0LEVx3X_85UoiYAtFlXNyoA

[citizen k]

There are a number of Kurd celebration videos related to the liberation of Kobani out there--this one inspired me to search for more.

http://news.yahoo.com/kurds-isis-victory-dance-video-170028740.html;_ylt=A0LEVx3X_85UoiYAtFlXNyoA

[CountDeMoney]

Nah, it can help right "human interest stories." I just don't tend to have a lot of interest in those. The big questions of the day in regard to your typical war/crisis aren't actually best evaluated by rolling around in the thick of it, truth be told. Plus there is some vague value to having footage of what's going on, too.

"On the ground" journalism is a little more involved than human interest stories, especially in conflict zones, lest you rely upon authorized and sanctioned pool reports from government entities and agency representatives.  While as a conservative, I can appreciate your affinity for the management of information and suppression of knowledge, journalism is still pretty valuable when it comes to knowing what is happening.

[alfred russel]

Nah, it can help right "human interest stories." I just don't tend to have a lot of interest in those. The big questions of the day in regard to your typical war/crisis aren't actually best evaluated by rolling around in the thick of it, truth be told. Plus there is some vague value to having footage of what's going on, too.

"On the ground" journalism is a little more involved than human interest stories, especially in conflict zones, lest you rely upon authorized and sanctioned pool reports from government entities and agency representatives.  While as a conservative, I can appreciate your affinity for the management of information and suppression of knowledge, journalism is still pretty valuable when it comes to knowing what is happening.

I don't completely share OvB's point of view, but in these days of youtube/the internet, you can rely on local "reporting" a lot more than in the past. Probably most of the videos showing the goings on in Syria are shot by locals.

A more traditional war correspondent hopping from conflict to conflict is going to be challenged to really get to the heart of a story when they don't speak the language, aren't of the culture, and are only there for a brief period.

[Martinus]

To be honest in this day and age of free flow of information, I think on the ground journalism does actually more harm than good, as it tends to shine disproportional amount of lime light on issues that are the personal pet cause of the journalist, as opposed to what the problem is, globally.

It's like the ice bucket challenge, which resulted with people donating more money to a relatively obscure disease than to the research of heart disease and cancer treatments, which kill many more people.

[Razgovory]

To be honest in this day and age of free flow of information, I think on the ground journalism does actually more harm than good, as it tends to shine disproportional amount of lime light on issues that are the personal pet cause of the journalist, as opposed to what the problem is, globally.

It's like the ice bucket challenge, which resulted with people donating more money to a relatively obscure disease than to the research of heart disease and cancer treatments, which kill many more people.

What is about you that picks examples that undermines your original statement?  The ice bucket thing was a social media sensation before it was picked up by the press.

[CountDeMoney]

I don't completely share OvB's point of view, but in these days of youtube/the internet, you can rely on local "reporting" a lot more than in the past. Probably most of the videos showing the goings on in Syria are shot by locals.

A more traditional war correspondent hopping from conflict to conflict is going to be challenged to really get to the heart of a story when they don't speak the language, aren't of the culture, and are only there for a brief period.

I think you're conflating what some anonymous ass clown that happens to be in the neighborhood does with a cellphone, and what Reuters or CBS News does.

[KRonn]

There are a number of Kurd celebration videos related to the liberation of Kobani out there--this one inspired me to search for more.

http://news.yahoo.com/kurds-isis-victory-dance-video-170028740.html;_ylt=A0LEVx3X_85UoiYAtFlXNyoA

Nice, good to see the Kurds with so much spirit and fighting back so hard. They fought for months in Kobani. They know what they face if they lose to the savage views of ISIS and become subjugated, so they fight back ferociously. It makes me wonder what the Saudis and others in the area are waiting for? They should be sending in ground troops, coordinating and working with others in the region - Saudis, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, UAE at the least as they have most to lose being in the cross hairs of ISIS. At least some are performing air strikes and to be fair it takes time and commitment to do it right as each nation can't send in troops solo.

[alfred russel]

I think you're conflating what some anonymous ass clown that happens to be in the neighborhood does with a cellphone, and what Reuters or CBS News does.

I'm not conflating what an anonymous person on the scene films with a handsome guy in the green zone telling us what other people told him.

[Tamas]

So why is it with ISIS everyone seems to care so much about people they behead? From 2003-2010 or so during the heavy phase of our fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq a lot of Westerners were beheaded by the insurgent/terrorist groups in those two countries, and also caught on video shared on the Internet. Why the hype for ISIS? It feels like I have to read about some idiot getting his throat slit and his head hacked off every week as front page news, which frankly to me it isn't. People dying in war zones is expected.

I think there is a very deliberate effort from the mainstream media in the Western world to drum up popular support against ISIS, no doubt to help the governments do what is necessary.

[mongers]

So why is it with ISIS everyone seems to care so much about people they behead? From 2003-2010 or so during the heavy phase of our fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq a lot of Westerners were beheaded by the insurgent/terrorist groups in those two countries, and also caught on video shared on the Internet. Why the hype for ISIS? It feels like I have to read about some idiot getting his throat slit and his head hacked off every week as front page news, which frankly to me it isn't. People dying in war zones is expected.

I think there is a very deliberate effort from the mainstream media in the Western world to drum up popular support against ISIS, no doubt to help the governments do what is necessary.

I entirely disagree, I don't think there's some government/international community conspiracy to do this (shades of your EE upbringing showing), merely that reporters and news agencies are reporting the facts*, which in this case plainly speak for themselves.




* These facts, the atrocities ISIL are committing and the direct and indirect threats they pose to us, are so black and white, they have a broad impact on the Western public.

[Tamas]

So why is it with ISIS everyone seems to care so much about people they behead? From 2003-2010 or so during the heavy phase of our fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq a lot of Westerners were beheaded by the insurgent/terrorist groups in those two countries, and also caught on video shared on the Internet. Why the hype for ISIS? It feels like I have to read about some idiot getting his throat slit and his head hacked off every week as front page news, which frankly to me it isn't. People dying in war zones is expected.

I think there is a very deliberate effort from the mainstream media in the Western world to drum up popular support against ISIS, no doubt to help the governments do what is necessary.

I entirely disagree, I don't think there's some government/international community conspiracy to do this (shades of your EE upbringing showing), merely that reporters and news agencies are reporting the facts*, which in this case plainly speak for themselves.




* These facts, the atrocities ISIL are committing and the direct and indirect threats they pose to us, are so black and white, they have a broad impact on the Western public.

If only ONCE I could post something politics related here without being told I don't know shit because I am from Eastern Europe. I don't think you guys are aware just how condescending you are.

You totally misunderstood me, besides. Of course they are reporting facts, and I very much welcome them to do so, as the world needs to see what is happening there, and make a brutal stop to it, so this "islamic state" stops being a viable alternative in the heads of many misguided souls.

However, it is hard not to see the contrast mentioned here not by me, that when Allied troops were already on the ground and they were being beheaded on Youtube, the mainstream pretty much ignored it or made it a side issue, and now when public support for having boots on the ground evaporated, beheadings and general personal brutality (the one which already had been happening in Iraq and Afghanistan) becomes the focus and big talking points.

Again, I am HAPPY this is happening because it is for the good of the world. But that doesn't stop it looking guided by policies.