I watched a documentary about Daniel Pearl last night, called The Journalist and the Jihadi, produced by HBO, and narrated by Christiane Amanpour. It was interesting enough, but it did that irritating thing where the only question any terrorist is ever shown being asked and answering is “Do you feel any remorse?” And of course they always say “No.”
Maybe somebody could send around some kind of helpful memo about this? Saying:
Dear Journalists: Jihadis think they are in a war and that everyone who isn’t in their army is an enemy troop. Hence they are never sorry for killing anyone. Just deal with it already and move on with your life, okay? Which could include maybe asking them something your viewers might be curious about when you have the chance. Like you could ask them whether the leaders of their particular cell think Islamic law permits the use of nuclear or chemical weapons against civilians in jihad, or whether their mothers dropped them all on their heads when they were babies, or something like that. Any question we don’t already all know the answer to will do, really. Since this information is apparently very, very hard to remember, please refer to this helpful FAQ when preparing to interview an Islamist terrorist:
Is the jihadi sorry for what he’s done? NO
Does the jihadi feel any remorse? NO
Does the jihadi think he did the right thing? YES
Does the jihadi feel that God approves of his act? YES
Maybe all the journalists working these stories could write the answers down on a card and tape it to their foreheads, so that they’re always reminded of it whenever they see each other at the hotel.
I don’t know why this gets up my nose so much. I guess it’s because it’s always such a waste of an opportunity to hear absolutely anything else these people might have to say. It’s like if the world press were covering some big astrophysics conference and every single journalist just kept asking attendees if they expected the sun to rise in the West the next morning, and kept carefully noting down the answer every time it was given, over and over again, until press time was over.
I mean come on, it’s been years now, figure it out.