Graphic Video: Full Saddam Execution Captured With Cellphone

[looseliam]

I'm vaguely attempted to watch it, but I know that you can't "unsee" things.

So I won't.

I get no satisfaction knowing that he's dead and I'm kinda disgusted by the revelling I've seen in some places.

Soil hit the nail on the head.

I saw literally 2 seconds of a beheading video and those images still haunt me.

And Ned, I expected better.

 

[mustangman]

I may be tempted with many things but after watching a beheading that was also leaked a few years ago, I have had my fill for seeing death.
If you are morbid, then you have the option in America to watch this. If you lived in a more repressed society, you may HAVE to watch this....

 

[trawler69]

I chose not to watch. However if it was George dubya I might have been tempted. How many people have been killed since his war on "terrrr" began? Have terrorist acts increased or decreased in the world? not just America. With that thought I shut up.

 

[StlKj]

I haven't watched the video yet, and I'm not sure if I will. I saw the news and the clip as they edited it, and that may be enough. As others here have done so, I too have watched videos of some of the beheadings reported on in the past few years. Such videos are upsetting and haunting, and I struggle with my conscience sometimes over seeing them.

So why do I? I'm a very caring, empathetic person. My whole life is about helping, guiding, teaching and caring for others. Why then would I watch such a thing? I've asked myself that before--why did I sit and subject myself to the pain of watching the twin towers falling? Why did I watch the events of Columbine played out? Is it morbid curiosity? Is it for some sick entertainment value? I know I don't look for the bodies in a car accident. I don't enjoy watching gore porn movies such as Hostel or many of the others that have been released recently. My empathy meter even goes off when I see someone nearby cut their hand open and begin bleeding. Why then would I watch a video that is in the news and I've been warned could be upsetting?

The closest thing I can come to as a conclusion for why is this--I feel a need and even a responsibility at times to bear witness. I feel a need to understand us as humans, both as beings who experience pain and who inflict it. I feel a need at times to witness the biology of death--how it comes for some of us and what it looks like, because one day it will come for me.

And my response when I witness it is always the same--a strong wave of sadness of what we are capable of, followed by a more constant and steady hope for what we are also capable of, which is one day living up to our fullest potential and putting an end to such events. I know it won't happen in my lifetime, or perhaps even a hundred lifetimes from now, but maybe one day. I have to hope.

 

[frankfrank]

I too have watched videos of some of the beheadings reported on in the past few years. Such videos are upsetting and haunting, and I struggle with my conscience sometimes over seeing them. I'm a very caring, empathetic person. My whole life is about helping, guiding, teaching and caring for others. My empathy meter even goes off when I see someone nearby cut their hand open and begin bleeding.

I love your post! Couldn't agree more. I refused to watch (Soilwork said it so well as soon as the thread started), but I have NO issue with the LINK having been posted, with the warning that it was graphic. At that point, we all make our own choice whether or not to watch. I've never seen any of the beheadings posts - I wasn't on the internet yet when the most famous ones went around, but I'm sure I could find them and look even now if I were wanting to do so.

I disagree with those who say that the thread should be locked, or the originator should be banned, etc. In fact I thank Ned N. for starting this thread; if I HAD wanted to see this, he offered me the opportunity. Anybody who clicked on the link knew what they might be seeing. I chose not to look, and nobody was trying to force me to do otherwise.

I remember seeing a clip on one of the news services in 2002, during the foray into Afghanistan, when an Asian had been kidnapped and threatened with beheading (which DID ultimately happen). The clip I saw was a very animated several seconds when he was begging and pleading for his life. THAT is something that I wish I could "un-see" and it didn't even involve the actual death.