# Steven Sotloff has been beheaded
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 2, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288 "2014-09-02T20:07:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/41 "2014-09-03T01:31:11Z")
Never mind.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/42 "2014-09-03T01:34:48Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#):
>
> Did you read the last few paragraphs?
Yes, I did.
Look, I sympathize with anyone who wants to get back at ISIL for their appalling treatment of Foley and Sotloff, but the ‘turning muslims into bacon-wrapped shrimp’ thing is pure ignorance. You know, what this site purports to fight.
Believe what you want. I’ve said all I can say on this particular subject.
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/43 "2014-09-03T01:37:49Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#):
>
> Most Muslims aren’t there.
Most of the planet’s total number of one billion Muslims, yes. But there are still enough Muslims in that area to dwarf the number of ISIS militants.
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### Author:  [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/44 "2014-09-03T01:45:38Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#):
>
> Yes, I did.
>
> Look, I sympathize with anyone who wants to get back at ISIL for their appalling treatment of Foley and Sotloff, but the ‘turning muslims into bacon-wrapped shrimp’ thing is pure ignorance. You know, what this site purports to fight.
>
> Believe what you want. I’ve said all I can say on this particular subject.
This site figts ignorance? When did that start happening? 😃
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/45 "2014-09-03T02:07:37Z")
> [@Diceman](#):
>
> I think most of us knew this was coming, but a [video has just surfaced](http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/02/video-reportedly-shows-beheading-reporter-steven-sotloff-by-isis/) which reportedly shows Steven Sotloff being beheaded.
So what? I mean really, so the fuck what? If we let ISIL make us nuts, and **Dex** a sadistic creep, every time they kill an American because he’s American then indeed, the terrorists have won. That’s how they want us to react, maybe more in a “What about the journalists? :(” way than in a “Kill them all! :mad:” way, but this keeps them in the news in the US. They are trolls. Don’t feed them. And don’t pay them. Those journalists went into harm’s way knowing what could happen, and it did. Fuck 'em. I don’t want our foreign policy influenced by what ISIL did to a couple of Americans. I want it influenced by what ISIL did to thousands of non-Americans.
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/46 "2014-09-03T02:16:21Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#):
>
> Again, the people who are actually fighting ISIS are Muslims. They are also ISIS’s main victim. ISIS has killed two Americans and thousands of Muslims
Snip
And Christians and Yazidis. Pretty much anyone who disagrees with them really. Even if you convert on some days. Not sure what the magic sauce is to not dying, other than leaving or killing them.
And, at this point, whether or not we’ve done them the honor of announcing a strategy, we’re fighting them. And if they think that beheading our citizens, or the Brits (the next “lucky” man on the list) is going to cool our jets, they really haven’t been paying attention.
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#):
>
> Also, I’m still waiting to find out what the practical effect of the bacon wrapping is supposed to be. How will it help us defeat ISIS?
Fairly certain, it being the Pit, that folks are mouthing off. And trying to rile up ISIS, should they deign to read Pit threads. Because, hey, the guys are rat-fucking bastards, and if anyone needs to have their corpses desecrated, it’s them. Who the hell kills hostages knowing it gains them NOTHING, and, history being the guide that it should be, will in fact, likely result in US invading at least 2 countries and flattening ISIS. They’re becoming our new favorite hobby, I suspect. They keep it up, and we’ll have flags off every highway overpass and flying off every car again.
In fact, they keep it up, and they’ll likely demonstrate that nothing unifies a disunified group of people like a common enemy. Saudi Arabia is already talking about what a threat they are. Be somewhat ironic if ISIS got the Middle East moving against them rather than for them (the would be caliphate).
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/47 "2014-09-03T02:26:19Z")
> [@Diceman](#):
>
> I think most of us knew this was coming, but a [video has just surfaced](http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/02/video-reportedly-shows-beheading-reporter-steven-sotloff-by-isis/) which reportedly shows Steven Sotloff being beheaded.
And?
Terrible tragedy, but the guy went into a war zone. I feel sorry for his family, but I’m not going to get the US involved in yet another M.E. war because of this. If the local actors can’t manage to fight these barbarians, I don’t want to do their dirty work for them.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/48 "2014-09-03T02:31:40Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> And?
>
> Terrible tragedy, but the guy went into a war zone. I feel sorry for his family, but I’m not going to get the US involved in yet another M.E. war because of this. If the local actors can’t manage to fight these barbarians, I don’t want to do their dirty work for them.
Perhaps supportive preemptive strikes are in our interests, rather than waiting for these assholes to bring it to our front door?
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/49 "2014-09-03T02:43:56Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#):
>
> Actually, IIRC, having any pig product about them after death prevents them from getting their handful of virgins on the other side, or even making it to the other side. If they truly believe in that hogwash, then it would probably piss them off to no ends to be covered with bacon grease. It’s something like that anyway.
Great, now I have this mental image of soldiers being issued little bottles of bacon bits … after battle you go around and drop a piece of bacon on each dead enemy sort of like the deluded principal in the film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer atthe dance. :smack:
[URL=“[http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/](http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)”]
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/50 "2014-09-03T03:01:52Z")
> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> Great, now I have this mental image of soldiers being issued little bottles of bacon bits … after battle you go around and drop a piece of bacon on each dead enemy sort of like the deluded principal in the film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer atthe dance. :smack:
> [URL=“[http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/](http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)”]
I never claimed it worked, but if it pisses them off, I’d laugh all the louder. Besides, we know their post mortem trip to heaven is nothing more than a very long wait for a bus that’s never coming, bacon or not.
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### Author:  [@Bouncer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bouncer)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/51 "2014-09-03T03:11:25Z")
> [@Superdude](#):
>
> [Here](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/president-obama-peter-king-tan-suit-rant)
Holy. Shit. Have none of these tools ever BEEN to DC in August? Wearing a summer suit isn’t a sartorial choice, it’s a goddamn survival requirement! People burst into flames in DC on a regular basis during this time of year. That’s if they don’t die from not being able to chew the goddamn air it’s so humid.
I mean, fuuuuuuuuuck!
Also, no republican ever has the right to question suit choices again. Or I will whip this out and hit them in the face with it. Until they are unconscious. Or their eyes just explode right out of their heads.
[http://willrabbe.com/storage/ReaganPreppy.jpg?\_\_SQUARESPACE\_CACHEVERSION=1285778419294](http://willrabbe.com/storage/ReaganPreppy.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1285778419294)
Regards,
-Bouncer-
PS: Never let it be said that I fight fair. Fuck that, I fight to win. Lamentations of the women, whole nine yards.
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### Author:  [@Bouncer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bouncer)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/52 "2014-09-03T03:25:24Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#):
>
> Bacon isn’t some kind of muslim Kryptonite, for fuck’s sake.
Great, there goes my patent for bacon bits chaff dispensers for armored vehicles in the mid-east. Thanks, El-Kabong-o!! :mad:
…muttermutterwasgonnamakeagoddamnMINT!muttermutter…
Regards,
-Bouncer-
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### Author:  [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/53 "2014-09-03T03:30:25Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> The President needs to make a decision on Syria, and quick. There is no reason to continue to dither about it, IMO.
Yeah the President better do something, because we know congress can’t do anything.
If the people of the US want to do something about it I’d prefer it be debated in congress. Want to go to war against ISIS let congress declare it. That buys us till November before we do something really stupid…
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### Author:  [@Bouncer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bouncer)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/54 "2014-09-03T03:54:18Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> And?
>
> Terrible tragedy, but the guy went into a war zone. I feel sorry for his family, but I’m not going to get the US involved in yet another M.E. war because of this. If the local actors can’t manage to fight these barbarians, I don’t want to do their dirty work for them.
As someone elsewhere said:“Right now, we can nip it in the bud so to speak with relatively little effort while protecting our HUGE investment in Iraq. The argument for doing nothing is a historical game of chance. Why leave it to the dice?”
I find he logic fairly strong. Fight them now, fight them later, but we’re probably going to end up fighting these guys. I’d rather not let them grow in strength. They’re not going to stop, they are going to maintain a civil war in Iraq and Syria and they are going to keep attacking our allies in the region. They are also going to try to export their violence to Europe and the US. We know this, because they have flat told us they want do this. Hell there is a claim that they want to destroy the Kaaba in Mecca because they see the Haj as idolatry. If they do that it’s on like Donkey-Kong all over the middle-east.
Me, I prefer to kill them before they get any more sophisticated or get their hands on any more devastating weaponry than they already have. It’s basically a miracle we got Assad’s chemical shit destroyed before they captured some. So right now they have mostly light arms and a few mechanized weapons, maybe three companies to a battalions worth apparently.
I’d like to kill the rabid animals now, rather than wait for them to harm more people, or turn others rabid. And before they grow too big.
Regards,
-Bouncer-
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### Author:  [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/55 "2014-09-03T04:17:00Z")
I can’t think of another organization (Islamic State) that can bring so may disparate entities together to agree on something. Even [al-Qaeda](http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/22/even-al-qaeda-denounced-beheading-videos-why-the-islamic-state-brought-them-back/) denounces them.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/56 "2014-09-03T04:38:07Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#):
>
> That would be an awesome thing to do if you wanted to inflame anti-American sentiment among the Muslim world, including the moderates we need on our side. Not sure how it would help us defeat ISIS though.
IMHO, it also would inflame anti-American sentiment among Muslim Americans serving in our military.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/57 "2014-09-03T04:45:16Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#):
>
> My preference is that we retaliate in kind. Any Islamic terrorists that are killed by American soldiers, the bodies should be slathered in pork fat, including bacon stuffed into their mouths, and buried in unmarked graves that way, and this should be well publicized.
Serious question here: How would you feel if the bodies of Jewish criminals got the same treatment just because said criminals happened to be Jewish? What do you think the reaction would be around the world, especially among Jews?
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/58 "2014-09-03T05:10:41Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#):
>
> Yeah the President better do something, because we know congress can’t do anything.
>
> If the people of the US want to do something about it I’d prefer it be debated in congress. Want to go to war against ISIS let congress declare it. That buys us till November before we do something really stupid…
Yes, but until Obama makes a decision about Syria, Republicans won’t know what their opinion on the subject is. America can’t handle that kind of gridlock.
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### Author:  [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/59 "2014-09-03T08:12:10Z")
This thread has taught me that rage turns people into Republicans.
Otherwise normal posters are talking through clenched teeth, spewing nonsense.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2014, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-sotloff-has-been-beheaded/697288/60 "2014-09-03T12:31:57Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#):
>
> My preference is that we retaliate in kind. Any Islamic terrorists that are killed by American soldiers, the bodies should be slathered in pork fat, including bacon stuffed into their mouths, and buried in unmarked graves that way, and this should be well publicized.
Nooooo! Won’t someone PLEASE think of the bacon?
Mmmmm… bacon.
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