Christmas with Kay

After hanging out with a couple of fellow Jews, I spent Christmas Eve (well, technically, 2am-5am on Christmas day) watching A Mighty Heart, the story of the kidnapping and execution of Wall Street Journalist Daniel Pearl, also a Jew. Naturally the movie leaves out actual footage of the execution. That would be far too personal and disrespectful. The internet, it turns out, leaves out nothing.

Since the video footage appeared on the internet in 2002 (yes I know, old news), the FBI has been persistent in removing all instances of it. Again, I understand the reasons for this, given how Pearl's widow and her child could potentially be exposed to reliving the horrifying event over and over. But after about 40 minutes of searching under various keywords and browsing non-English sites, I found it. No sound, but the right video all the same, just as chilling as you'd expect it to be. The footage doesn't include the actual beheading, just the aftermath. I instantly tried to imagine being in the service and watching similar footage of, say, a colleague. Not sure if I could stomach that.

Following that, I spent the rest of my time awake browsing Afghani execution videos, both stonings and beheadings. I'm about as wholesome as Jewish girls come during Christmas.