This week the world witnessed the beheading of an American civilian. Countless pictures of orange-clad James Foley have been in constant rotation on Facebook and Twitter feeds, with his hands behind his back and his executioner holding the knife that would soon end his life. I personally couldn't watch the YouTube video, but wept when I zoomed in on pictures of his face. In some, he showed a sort of calm acceptance; in another, the one most websites are using, his eyes are closed tightly, face and mouth contorted as if he were waiting for the blade to touch his throat. His back was straight, not slouched, in an almost proud defiance despite knowing his life was about to end. The horror he was going through is beyond comprehension; and as a mother, to think that his parents are able to see the video of their son's execution is unimaginably heartbreaking.
In the video, James Foley denounced America and blamed his death on the bombing of Iraq. One can only imagine the torture he must have endured over the past two years in captivity to get to that point, living day to day without any hope of ever being saved. His soul was probably broken by the time he was on his knees, about to die in front of the world.
But I think what has shocked me as much as the public execution of James Foley is the lack of interest – or rather the lack of mourning – by the American public. Do they not understand what has happened? Why hasn't the world stopped? Why is everyone going on, as if everything is normal? Why did our American president think it was OK to say a few solemn words and then immediately go back on vacation, playing golf, fist bumping and laughing with his friends as if everything was "normal" in America?
America isn't normal anymore, and I'm wondering how many more Islamic beheadings it will take before citizens take notice. In our age of Pop Culture where most people can name at least 100 movie stars, does anyone know the names of all the Americans who have been beheaded by Islamists? I'll admit I didn't know until I read Ilana Mercer's latest WND column.
As a reminder, they are: Daniel Pearl, beheaded in 2002; Paul Marshall Johnson Jr., beheaded in 2004; Nick Berg, 2004; Jack Hensley, 2004; and Eugene Armstrong, 2004.
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Of course, they are not finished; the monsters of ISIS are threatening to butcher another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, who was kidnapped in 2012.
Why isn't every television reporter talking about this? Why are they still only aiming their cameras on the angry people of Ferguson, Missouri? Is one mother's dead son more important than another?
Another mother's son was also murdered recently. An Islamic jihadist, posing as a soldier, killed Maj. Gen. Harold Green in Afghanistan. Neither Obama nor Vice President Biden attended Green's funeral at Arlington Cemetery, and reportedly the White House didn't even fly the flag at half-mast. Every network, including Fox News, instead covered a church service for Michael Brown on Aug. 17.
You've got to hand it to the media; they've successfully turned a true American hero into a ghost, and a convenience store robber into a hero.
The gist of this sad story is that in order to maintain the narrative they've been pushing from day one, the Obama administration must continue the ruse that Islam is a "religion of peace." From Fort Hood to the Time Square bombings, they will whitewash anything that casts doubt in people's minds.
I'm going to predict that soon, very soon, we won't hear a word about James Foley again. After all, the leader of the free world, the American president, was laughing and playing games soon after announcing to the world that an American was beheaded – so everything must be copacetic, right? We've all but forgotten Daniel Pearl's beheading, and the names of the four Americans slaughtered in Benghazi are becoming hazy. Maj. Gen. Green will be forgotten next, followed by James Foley, and then whomever the Islamists murder after him. The whitewashing has begun; the distractions are abundant, with the media forcing everyone to "keep looking over there" – and if we stop looking over there, they will find something else for us to look at.
And a majority of Americans will do just that, because it's too overwhelming, too difficult to believe that an American could have been beheaded on video. It doesn't matter that we've seen it with our own eyes – but now that we've seen it, it will perhaps be easier for people to prepare themselves to once again look the other way when Islamists behead the next American.
Tick, tick, tick …
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