Here’s a simpler explanation for the Nick Berg request spike: People heard that a video depicting a man being beheaded was on the internet. Wonder of wonders, they logged onto the internet and searched for it! Why? Perhaps it was morbid fascination. Perhaps it was to see something “cool.” Perhaps Fear Factor wasn’t on. Whatever the reason, the most likely explanation is that this was something novel, shocking, taboo, and on the Internet, so lots of people went looking for it in the place where it was supposed to be: The Internet. Not to shuffle-off the stifling coil of Big Media. Not so they could get mad at the Arabs and help Bush’s re-election chances. And definitely not to help bloggers strike a mortal blow against the elitist, liberal, ivory tower media. At least that’s what ten years of crawling around the internet tells me. Hell, I still get hundreds of search requests every month for video of Somalis dragging American soldiers through the streets.

— Sgt Stryker: The Bubble