I just happened to check

I just happened to check the referral logs on this site and guess what?
As with Nick Berg's beheading, there seem to be an awful lot of people
who are looking for information on Paul Johnson's beheading. Why does
this happen? Why is it happening again?
I would have to say it's because the mainstream media isn't giving the
public the information they would like to have. So, they Google and
find other sources. I, for some unknown reason, seem to be a "source."
All of this, of course, is making the massive assumption that the
media, in its newscasts tonight, won't show the pictures of this
horrible act, choosing to err on the side of caution, but I don't know
if they will or won't. We'll have to see. One can make the argument
that they're biased as hell because they've been running 24/7 coverage
of Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, but they won't show beheading photos. I
tend toward this argument, but I don't run a national network, either,
and I don't know that I'd want to have to answer the phones after
airing beheading photos. I will say this much: they need to pick which
side of the fence they're going to stand on and show some consistency.
Either they show all
the visuals, no matter how gory, or they don't show any of them at all.
It's up to them and I would sincerely hope, if they truly realize that
if a picture is worth a thousand words, they will allot the same
word-length to each and every subject they cover when it comes to the
war. I know. I'm not holding my breath, either, and my sincerest
condolences go out to the Johnson family. I'm so sorry for your loss.
But as a source of information I will provide access to the pictures.
The information wants to be free; I'm just allowing for it. If you've
found your way here please read the following before hitting the links.
I'm assuming you have the best of intentions about wanting to see these
photos, meaning you're not searching them out because you're a sick
fuck who gets their jollies by watching innocent people be beheaded for
no good reason whatsoever. If you are a sick fuck, SEEK HELP NOW. I'll
also give you the warning that, of course, these photos ARE GRAPHIC. Be prepared. They made me want to throw up. I'm assuming you'll have the same reaction.

UPDATE The husband has taken care of matters. Go here, here, here and here.

You can also find them at Drudge if you so choose.

UPDATE II: Michele thinks any blogger who's linking/hosting these photos is traffic seeking whore and a "snuff vendor." She says:

There is no reason to post these pictures or host them. Wasn't Nick Berg enough? I almost understood then, that people needed to see the capability of evil. Great, we saw it then. It's no different now. I cannot fathom any reason for hosting these pictures except for the rise in stats. It is ghoulish. What difference will a picture of another dead American do? What purpose does it serve? None that I can see. From Drudge on down, you all are all snuff vendors. Enough already

I respectfully disagree. And I'm having a hard time keeping it respectful, but I will do so because I do respect Michele's opinion. I just happen to think she's wrong. I'm not looking for extra traffic---these people are finding me. Not the other way around. Anyone who knows me knows I want this blog to be read for its content, not because I sent out a pack of self-promoting emails to big dog bloggers and produced an avalanche of links. Those readers will pretty much all disappear the minute the big dog stopped paying attention. That's no way to get your message across. I've been blogging for almost a year now, and I've built my readership up to almost fifty people a day. Fifty. That ain't much compared to Michele's ten thousand hits per day. She's been at this longer. I love A Small Victory. I think it's a great blog and Michele is truly a talented writer, but ten thousand hits per day doesn't automatically make her right, either. People find their way here via the search engines and my referral logs tell me they're looking to the blogosphere for what the mainstream media isn't giving them. Who, exactly, are we as bloggers if we pull the same shit the media does, and back away because we find it distasteful or that we think it's overkill and might turn people against the war? That makes us just as bad as the mainstream media as far as wanting to manipulate people's views by selectively editing what content we think they should have. The information wants to be free. I'm simply allowing for access to it. That's it. I'm not forcing anyone to go and look at them. If they choose to, however, they should be able to find them. And if that makes me a "whore" and a "snuff vendor" so be it. Posted by Kathy at June 1, 2004 04:01 PM | TrackBack