Ignoring Hitler did not stop him, and ignoring the Islamic State will not stop it, either

For reasons that I cannot fathom, NBC did not cover the kidnapping of some 150 Assyrian Christians by the Islamic State. NBC was not alone in this, as Telemundo and Univison also did not cover it, and ABC and CBS gave it only a passing mention.

It has been suggested for some time now - by those both within and without the media - that the media should not cover the activities and atrocities of the Islamic State because doing so gives them more exposure and turns the jihadists into celebrities.

As you might imagine, I have never agreed with this line of thinking because it is akin to saying, "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." It seems to indicate a certain line of thinking that if we ignore the Islamic State it will lose influence and fade away. This is simply foolish and very dangerous.

The argument makes as much sense as arguing that the media should not have covered the growing influence and strength of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis or the horrors of the Holocaust. No one - so far as I have seen - would make this argument about the Nazis, so why use it in reference to the Islamic State?

In many ways, though, too many people - both within and without the media - did in fact remain silent. They refused to see evil, hear evil, and speak of evil and so Hitler rose to power and he and his Nazis moved to eradicate the Jews, as this video demonstrates all too well:

Because people did not speak out and act forcefully when they knew full well horrendous evils were being committed by the Nazis, 11,000,000,000 were killed.

It happened not that long ago, and it can happen again today. I dare say it will, unless we change our response to the Islamic State.

Ignoring Hitler did not stop him. Ignoring the Islamic State will not stop it.