Of course, despite my hopes, people are using the Berg decapitation video to push their own agenda. The most revolting variation on the theme involves blog triumphalism: The Big Media sucks because it refuses to show the video of Nicholas Berg’s decapitation, even though many people are searching for the video on the internet.

Interestingly, the fuckwit leading the charge on this theme doesn't have video stills of the decapitation on his own blog, only a link to a link to the video. Which is precisely the same thing as a television station or newspaper reporting that the video is available on the internet -- "we're not going to show it; here's where to find it." If viewing the decapitation is so crucial, why not display the most important frames on your site? Isn't the story as newsworthy as photos of a courthouse, a signboard and a Pakistani truck? Do you lack the courage of your pretensions?

Fuckwit says that "[t]he Berg video wasn't shown on TV [sic], and ... the big media leaders seem almost desperate to keep the story on Abu Ghraib," and "[b]ut on the Internet, where users set the agenda, not Big Media editors and producers, it's different ... Nick Berg is the story that people care about[.]" Of course, parts of the video were shown repeatedly on television last night, along with reports about Berg's grieving family, why he was in Iraq, and the disputed matter of whether he was in U.S. or Iraq custody shortly before his death. And even as this statement appears on fuckwit's site, the Big Media editors of the NYT, WP, LAT, ChiTrib, Newsday, USA Today, CNN, ABC, MSNBC and CBS all have the Berg story featured prominently on their news sites. On almost all, it's either the first or second story, alternating with Rummy's visit to Iraq and/or the request for an additional $50 billion for Iraq.

But it's a lot more fun to pretend.

Sure, a lot of people want to see a beheading. And they can only see it on the 'net. Which says zero about blogs or the "new media" -- unless fuckwit is lauding al-Zarqawi as a content provider.

I'm sure those who knew and cared about Mr. Berg will be comforted to know he died so that others may crow that they're more virtuous than the big, bad editors of teevee news.