News - Lifting The Veil: #Munich Shooting and Syrian 'Collateral Damage' Exposes Media Bias

   The main theme of this blog is to help people gain an understanding of the world we live in, and themselves. I attempt to do this by finding a key balance between intellectual content that triggers deep thought and critical thinking about a variety of topics, as well as through the building of emotional intelligence. This post is going to serve as an appeal to emotional intelligence and logic. I wish for people to continue with their open-minds and attempt to answer these very curious and even difficult questions.

   In the past several hours, a suspected terrorist attack has occurred in Munich, Germany (4 hours from where I am.) The details are coming in as I write this, but here is what is known at the moment:

An undetermined number of shooters has reportedly opened fire in the Olympia shopping mall in Munich. Shooting has also been reported on nearby streets. There is also an unconfirmed report that a shooting has occurred in Karlsplatz square in the central part of the city. More unconfirmed reports say a shooting has occurred at Lsartor square. At this moment, there are officially 10 casualties and an undetermined number of injuries.

Photo obtained from 'Russia Today' news website

   Thankfully, this does not appear to be another massive casualty event like what we observed in Nice, France.

   With that being said, not long after the shooting, President Obama has come out and expressed his grief for our German ally. But when it comes to understanding the value of human life, Obama has not always stood by the side of the people. His interests seem to be very specific. Now, do not hear me wrong, the murder of people is always a sad thing. Especially when it is done in the name of a violent, radical form of Islam. I am in no way saying we should not grieve with Germany. What I am saying is we should question the mainstream media narrative, because it is a powerful tool that shapes people's opinions.

From 'rocket news'

   Let's consider news that came out of Northern Syria just a few days ago. Several news websites (here and here) had gathered reports that as many as 85 innocent civilians were killed in U.S.-led airstrikes on Syrian soil. 85 innocent civilians killed behind the authority of U.S. led airstrikes. In the Nice attack, 84 people were confirmed dead. Needless to say, the scores coming from Syria are not as definitive or accurate as the scores from Nice, meaning that more or less people may have been killed.

   The killing of up to 85 innocent civilians is not just a failure of intelligence gathering, it is a national embarrassment. Furthermore, the killing of this many innocent people is similar to the very act of terrorism we are fighting against. Some people might say that it's not like terrorism and that "that's the reality of war" and dismiss these reports. That kind of thought process is shameful and disgraceful. Why? Because it gives people a reason not to feel a sense of responsibility to prevent such acts from happening in the future. Do intelligence agencies not understand that mistakes of this magnitude is breeding ground for the rise of radical Islam? It gives people from these regions a reason to want to wage jihad against the West, because we are killing scores of innocent people. So when we talk about fighting the war against terror- we need to take a step back and rethink what that means. To these people, we are the terrorists. The killing of innocent people creates more terrorists. It is a vicious cycle. 

   So we accidentally killed 85 innocent people (possibly) in Syria, including 11 children. This was all over the news right? The President addressed the nation like he did with Nice and now Munich, and admitted to our awful mistake in Syria and apologized, correct?

   Incorrect.

   The killing of 85 innocent civilians in Syria was covered very lightly by mainstream media and was mostly reported in alternative or online-based news sources. This is exactly the kind of media bias that people like myself despise. The truth shall always be set free, whether it makes us look good or bad.

From 'pinterest'

   And then now this disaster in Munich has struck and it is all over mainstream media. CNN, NY Times, Fox, BBC, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, Al Jazeera etc. are all reporting on it - and it is on the 'Breaking News' banner for every single one of them. Then again, how much more can we expect when the mainstream media is also mysteriously silent when it comes to CIA-funded 'moderate' Syrian rebels known as Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki recording themselves enthusiastically sawing off the head of a child? This isn't conspiracy insanity, this is reality.

   It seems to me that the mainstream media is protecting something. You tell me what you think that is. As always, continue to question everything and seek understanding of the world, and yourself.


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*Update: 7/23/16 12:37 p.m.
I've made the assumption based on the EU terror trend that the gunman or gunmans had ties to radical Islam, but as details continue to roll out of Munich, it may not actually be the case in this attack. If this is confirmed, I apologize in advance for the assumption fallacy. Also, confirmations seem to indicate that there was only one gunman but I will wait further before fixing this in the post.

**Update: 7/25/16 3:44 p.m.
10 deaths (including shooter), 35 wounded. The shooter was not inspired by radical Islam. Was mentally disturbed, depressed, and had an interest in mass shootings in general.