Death Video

We all know about Wall Street Journal Reporter Daniel Pearl being kidnapped and brutally murdered in Pakistan. And we all heard about how the killers videotaped his death. One minute he was talking like he was being interviewed, and the next someone had slashed his throat. All while being videotaped. The tape was sent to a Pakistani journalist, and it eventually found its way to the U.S. State Dept. Which leads me to believe there are multiple copies of this tape. I hope none of the copies will find their way into the wrong hands. I’m specifically speaking of people who trade these kinds of videos underground.

We’ve all either heard about or seen snuff videos, where a film is shown of actual people dying actual deaths. And there are various websites that also show MPEGs of people being brutally killed or maimed. Without delving into the subject of who gets off on this sick shit, I hope for the sake of everyone, the Daniel Pearl video never sees the light of day. He had a wife and an unborn child who will never know her father. I’d hate to think if she grew up and accidentally stumbled upon his death video somewhere.

Back in the 80s, a man who, I believe, was a Pennsylvania senator by the name of Budd Dwyer called a press conference to talk about being indicted. In the middle of the press conference that was broadcast live on local TV, he took out a pistol, stuck it in his mouth, and pulled the trigger. I happened to be home from school and watching at the time. I was horrified and never wanted to see anything like that ever again. But Budd Dwyer made himself into somewhat of a celebrity that day because since the tape was only shown once on TV it is very rare to get a copy of it, but it is out there. There are even some sites that claim to carry the surveillance video from the Columbine High.

Luckily, not all famous deaths make it to light. When Brandon Lee was accidentally killed during the filming of the movie The Crow, the film containing his death was destroyed.

My point is this. Videos involving anyone’s death just for the sake of shock viewing should be banned. I’m all for freedom of speech, but there is no intrinsic value to any of these tapes. Every one of those people whose death you may see on tape had a mother, or husband, or child that really cared for them, and they have to relive it every time one of those videos is shown. They need to be banned and banned now. There needs to be some kind of law not unlike the Son of Sam law which states convicted felons cannot profit from their illegal activities through books and movies, etc. There needs to be a law which states no one can profit through the exploitation of someone’s death on video or film or any other viewed medium.