You can gauge what's on people's minds by what they search for. This week, thousands upon thousands were thinking of Nick Berg and his horrific death at the hands of Al Qaida.
Hundreds of websites and blogsites were inundated with thousands upon thousands of people hitting their favorite websearch engines in search of information and/or the live recording of his beheading.
The popular Atrios over at the blogsite Eschaton wrote that he was getting 10,000 hits an hour. Steve, author of one of my favorite blogs Absit Invidia, posted a plea of help for one of his reader's blogs because it was receiving so many hits that he was going to be charged for the extra bandwidth. For myself, having written four posts on Nick Berg, the hits for my journal skyrocketed by about 1,000%.
I'd like to think that the majority of people were searching for commentary about his death, something that would not only explain more about his life, family, dreams, and ambitions but also be a thoughtful tribute--something you can wrap around you that gives you understanding or perspective. Consider the eloquent biography written by the editorial team at The New York Times:
It's easy to say he should not have been in Iraq, but Nicholas Berg was a type familiar to all danger zones: an adventurous and naïve young man who was perhaps keen to do a bit of business, but keener yet to test himself; old enough to understand the danger, but young enough to defy it. It is impossible not to feel grief, and horror, at his terrible end.
I'd like to think that people were interested to learn more about Nick's parents, Michael and Suzanne, and their fight against the Administration to get answers to their son's death. Why was he held by our forces for two weeks? Why wasn't he given a secure transport out of the country? But all they have received is differing answers and/or silence.
Just this week, Jason Straziuso of the Associated Press explained that the family had received emails from the diplomat Beth Payne in Iraq confirming that Nick was being held by the US. Now the government tells them those emails were false.
Berg's brother called on the government to come clean about its contacts with the slain American before he died. The family has blamed the government for keeping him in custody for too long while anti-American violence escalated in Iraq.
"They're trying to deflect attention to a couple weeks down the road when no one's paying attention,'' David Berg said. "I think President Bush needs to be a man about this and tell the truth. I think most, if not all, Americans can figure out who's telling the truth and who's lying.''
[snip] The Bergs said they want to know if the government had received an offer to trade Iraqi prisoners for Nicholas Berg. On the videotape of his death, Berg's killers made a reference to a trade offer, but U.S. officials have said they knew of no such offer.
Unfortunately, the majority of the hits received on my site were for the actual beheading of Nick Berg, the live coverage. In this mad storm of hits, I received an email pleading me to send the video of the beheading as soon as possible. The request ended with the word, "Please."
On Friday, I saw a picture of Michael Berg placing a white, flowered wreath in the shape of the Star of David in his yard, in preparation of the funeral of his son Nick at the West Chester synagogue. The presence of a light blue ribbon, its ends falling like a waterfall below the star, drew my eye to that point. It was like looking at a piece of blue sky beyond cumulus clouds.
In death, Nick Berg has become as wide as this sky; his name immortalized. On his name will ride the debates of peace or revenge.
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