The ostensible purpose of the recent videos that show the beheadings of two American journalists by Islamic militants is to deter attacks - your missiles on our positions will beget our knives on Western hostages - but the true aim is to spread dread and terror.
The videos deliver in miniature the same chilling message as the footage of the towers falling 13 years ago: Everything has changed, no one is safe and the United States is impotent against true believers.
It is a memo from a foe that has everything to gain by goading the United States into a fight in a far-flung land where its enemies are legion. The tactic worked back then.
And while the videos convey barbarism on an elemental level, dismissing them as crude or one-dimensional would be wrong. The Islamic State clearly has a sophisticated production unit, with good cameras, technically proficient operators and editors who have access to all the best tools.
What they made are modern media artifacts being used to medieval ends. The videos serve as both propaganda and time machine, attempting to wipe away centuries of civilization and suggest that the dreamed-of caliphate flourishes and blood is cheap currency.
The real warriors in those videos are the journalists who were killed, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, who were trying to do a dangerous job when they were grabbed opportunistically in Syria. Innocent people end up caught in the crossfire of war, but the targeting of journalists who provide witness for the rest of us is particularly appalling to people in the news business.
The videos deliver in miniature the same chilling message as the footage of the towers falling 13 years ago: Everything has changed, no one is safe and the United States is impotent against true believers.
It is a memo from a foe that has everything to gain by goading the United States into a fight in a far-flung land where its enemies are legion. The tactic worked back then.
And while the videos convey barbarism on an elemental level, dismissing them as crude or one-dimensional would be wrong. The Islamic State clearly has a sophisticated production unit, with good cameras, technically proficient operators and editors who have access to all the best tools.
What they made are modern media artifacts being used to medieval ends. The videos serve as both propaganda and time machine, attempting to wipe away centuries of civilization and suggest that the dreamed-of caliphate flourishes and blood is cheap currency.
The real warriors in those videos are the journalists who were killed, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, who were trying to do a dangerous job when they were grabbed opportunistically in Syria. Innocent people end up caught in the crossfire of war, but the targeting of journalists who provide witness for the rest of us is particularly appalling to people in the news business.