Letters

An eloquent mixture of disgust and respect: Readers respond to Salon's posting of the Nick Berg video.

May 13, 2004 | [Read the story.]

In a supposedly free society with an independent press, it is offensive that most of our media outlets would take it upon themselves to deny us the right (if not the obligation) to see the Nick Berg video. As an adult, I don't need others deciding what's too intense for me or filtering information. Watching the video is not entertaining. It does, however, confront one with the reality of our involvement in Iraq and those who would strike back at us much more powerfully than mere descriptions. If anyone needs to be reminded of the power of the image, ask Don Rumsfeld and George W. Bush, who seemed oblivious to the growing prisoner-abuse scandal until the pictures came to light. It is also tragically ironic for Nick Berg that one seemed to spawn the other.

In this mediated age, pictures and video are central to communicating the whole story. Salon, at least, gave me the option to witness this horrific event and draw from it my own meaning.

-- Don Howe

I am absolutely disgusted by Salon's decision to post the video of Nicholas Berg's beheading. There have already been plenty of "blow by blow" descriptions of this heinous act. What does a reader gain by actually viewing the execution? Is it really allowing us to "confront the reality of war" or does it simply satisfy the prurient interests that draw viewers to any other "snuff film"? What dignity and respect remain for Nick Berg and his family? The justification in Farhad Manjoo's article, "Horror Show": "... because when you dare to watch his murder you sense how frightened he is, and you admire how calm he is, you feel as if you know Nick Berg intimately, that you've perhaps known him your whole life," seems empty to me. Are we so jaded by the constant barrage of violent media that we can't extract these impressions for a detailed written account? Do we have to witness a murder now, to feel sympathy for the victim? Do we have to actually see someone's calm in the face of five attackers in order to admire their strength and courage?

There has to be a line somewhere. I agree that images can be profoundly moving, and can be a powerful aid in understanding the human impact of war and the nature of crimes of war: rows of flag-draped coffins, bomb-scarred Iraqi children, grinning soldiers posing for a trophy shot of the humiliation of their captives. Taking it to the point of showing the very moment of death, broadcasting the final scream of a murdered man, goes too far into the realm of poor taste and insensitivity.

Broadcasting the murderers' violent message by posting their video only perpetuates their suffering of Nick Berg and his family and represents a new low in Salon.com's editorial standards.

-- Kristen Gallagher

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for your in-depth coverage of this terrible war. The text and images you present are very difficult to absorb but I feel I have a better understanding of "what's going on" through your publication and your writers.

-- Philip Morrow

I am curious as to what you hoped to accomplish by having the "unspeakably gruesome" video (to use your words) of Nick Berg's horrifying death on this site. Does anyone in the world not understand what "beheading" means? Can a verbal description not suffice to tell the story of what happened to this young man? I do not frequent your site but someone told me you had this video available. I could not believe it. I find it disturbing that anyone would want to view that video in that it could only be to serve an odd curiosity.

Was your point to make people more angry? Is it to horrify them? Both? If so, to what purpose? Sign up to fight the war? Decide to vote the president out of office? Visit your site more often for other horrifying images? Buy your sponsor's products? What exactly did you hope to accomplish?

I think you should be ashamed and should apologize to the friends and family during this time of deep mourning and confusion as to what has happened to them.

Please stick to reporting the news, make your editorial comments but know when to draw the line and respect the fallen.

-- Mark Lackey

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