Not Ready for Prime Time

--nothing

Can we film the operation
Is the head dead yet
You know the boys in the newsroom
Got a running bet 
--Dirty Laundry, Don Henley

 So, why should I waste my beautiful mind
on something like that?
--Barbara Bush
 _____________________

Per The Photo today of the 7-year-old son of the Islamic State member gleefully holding up the severed head of the Syrian gloatingly posted to his father's Twitter account, there's not much to say.

Who can call this "Photo of the Year"? Why do we give this insanity any press? "Warning -- Graphic Photo!" as we salaciously anticipate our own voyeuristic John the Baptist moment. Yet, the press did not gift us with the beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl ... why is that? After all, his murderers kindly provided footage, too.

In the past, the press made decisions based upon more than desperation for readership. Eddie Adams' photo, "General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner in Saigon" showed the human tragedy that is war, but the frame did not rely on showing the soon-bloody head. By freezing the moment of impending doom, one did not have the benefit of release.

Today's photo depicts a vulgar, bestial, monstrous action, and a gleeful boy joining in the celebration. Are we surprised? Do we really not know what the Western world confronts in the name of IS activities?

What is special, newsworthy or shocking about this photo? This is child porn of a most chilling form. We ban such things in our nation, yet consume it with gusto under the rubric ... I do not know what rubric; perhaps you can tell me.

Is there nothing sacred?