Unfiltered

There's this site called LiveLeak.com. It is a site filled with extraordinary videos that are unfiltered and not censored by anyone. It is a popular website that is famed from its uncut videos. Categories of videos include politics, middle east, celebrities, citizen journalism, etc. It is a viable resource for the latest news and issues as well as a site to see videos not found anywhere else.

What got me interested in this interesting site is the middle east section. This section mostly covers the violence going on in multiple countries in the middle east. There are videos coming from news sources, citizens, and even soldiers from all sides of the conflicts. Soldiers posting videos of their exploits and daily experiences gives the conflicts a new side to understand. By seeing what they see, the videos give the conflicts a new face as we see first hand the results of war. The victims of war are clearly portrayed, showing just how gruesome war is.

War is different when one only hears about it and sees videos of it through censored news sources. A clear picture is portrayed through newspapers and news channels. But when videos of the same conflict are posted and fully bypass the bias restrictions of the media, a new picture is painted.

In a way, a source of news like this is beneficial since all sides can be covered. It gives us the ability to view the conflict directly from the front lines. The other side has somewhat of a moral dilemma to it. Yes, it sheds light to the atrocities and is an outlet to see just how bad things get, but posting videos of people dying on tape creates an interesting topic. I wonder how the families of the dead feel that their deaths are on tape available for anyone to see. It brings up a moral issue and I'm not too sure how I feel about it. The Internet is a place for unbiased material, but where is the line drawn for the content of things posted. Is there a line for death? Not at the moment. So when is it too much?