I dislike Mark Steyn and the reactionary barbarism he generally stands for. Therefore, on principle I applaud the Telegraph for refusing to publish his latest article.
However, the article is actually spot on, which is surprising. Mr Steyn says that the nutcase executioners in Iraq are banking on three weeks of pathetic negotiation and media sentimentality, followed by a video in which the hostage is meekly decapitated. This proves that the west is weak and rubbish, and encourages more of the same.
What you-as-victim should do, says Mr Steyn, is to die bravely like Fabrizio Quattrocchi, thereby messing up their video. Implicitly, what you-as-government and you-as-media should do is pretty much to ignore the terrorists and point out that one man’s life really isn’t very important in the context.
This is also why I approve of Billy Connolly, even if his joke wasn’t very funny.
I read the Steyn piece after I heard about it on Matthew Turner’s site. (Funny really, as I normally don’t bother with him.) Just because he makes one decent point doesn’t excuse the foul tone. It may well be better to die like an Italian, but heroism is, by definition, something you can’t ask of people. As always, Steyn seems to really hate most people in this country – you wonder why he bothers addressing us.
Billy Connolly may not have been funny, but he was a lot closer to articulating the thoughts I’d rather not (especially if Michael’s point about the context is correct – ie that the joke was on the media).