Joe Scarborough offered this up on Friday. It’s worth quoting it in the bigger font (thanks, Atrios):

Killing won’t make headlines

What would happen if terrorists launched a killing spree and no one noticed?

That’s the question the supporters of Zarqawi must have been asking themselves this week between Thursday massacres and Friday prayers.

Eighteen civilians were blown up yesterday and the world hardly noticed.

Suicide bombings. How 2004…

…The terrorists may still be killing a handful of Iraqi civilians. But all they are doing is strengthening their enemies in the United States and all of Iraq.

It is time for a new strategy. This killing thing just isn’t making headlines anymore.”

It’s an interesting idea. Scarborough, a “reporter” of sorts, is pointing out a brilliant new media strategy for helping the American cause in the War on Terror:

Don’t report stuff.

Or if you report it, don’t make a really big deal about or else (you guessed it! All together now:) The Terrorists Have Won!

It’s definitely the tack that the news networks have been taking when it comes to Death and Iraq. If you watch TV, you’ll see that the news continues to deem Michael Jackson to be much more important than any Americans killed in Iraq (dead Iraqis aren’t even close). If you go to the MSNBC homepage, you will not see anything about the three of our soldiers who’ve died in the past few hours - you’d have to click a link that promises to tell you about a rescue operation, and even that headline is given lesser billing than a Florida murderer confessin’, the Cardinals getting ready to start selecting a new Pope, and a surprisingly large wave hitting a cruise ship and killing… nobody.

Joe’s right - the terrorists’ strategy of killing people to make headlines is definitely not working. They’ve managed to kill 24 people in the past day, including four Americans, and the press is prudently downplaying the fact lest they offer Aid and Comfort to the enemy. It might be somewhat hard for the parents of an American soldier to find that their son’s death will be treated as little more than a footnote, that his name will likely never be mentioned on TV, that his face will probably not be seen by the country he died fighting for, and that any details of the life he led will never be talked about… but that’s the way Joe Scarborough n’ friends wanna play it. Because anti-war freaks are just panting to turn this killing into “news” and aid the terrorist cause. But they’re not gonna get by the frontline defenses of the news desks, not anymore. Never again.

So I have an idea…

Let’s acknowledge that the liberal media made a colossal, dangerous mistake on September 11th, 2001. They were so quick to jump on the “story” of a terrorist attack that they didn’t stop to think about it. So they went ahead and saturated the airwaves, printed gaudy headlines, and made a big, silly deal of the whole thing.

Which was exactly what the terrorists wanted.

Even the President fell for it, treating the World Trade Center’s destruction and the 3000 deaths as “big news,” speaking to the nation about “an act of war.” The media could have been reporting legitimate stories like Dennis Rodman’s boating arrest, Jennifer Lopez’ wedding, and Mariah Carey’s comeback from a mental breakdown. These things really happened back in September of 2001, and the media took their eye of the ball. Instead, they played right into the terrorists’ hands.

Let’s not make that mistake again. When September 11th rolls around again this year let’s keep the story down to a passing mention and maybe half a column on page B23. If we continue to treat our enemies slaughtering us (or our soldiers or our allies or their children) as news, we’re just encouraging ‘em. Our best weapons in this war are our ignorance and our apathy, and nobody but the news media can ensure that these are maintained.

So let’s mark 9/11 this year with stories of celebrity sex scandals, backwoods rapists, splashy legal battles, and those amazing “culture wars.” Maybe some big items about the approaching World Series. Only that way can we truly honor the memory of the fallen by ignoring them completely.

We’ve got to get started now, though, or we might fall into the trap of remembering 9/11. Write your local newspapers and cable providers to get this thing in motion. And tell ‘em Joe sent you.