WASHINGTON – Many years ago, a porn company I worked for had an opportunity to create major publicity for itself, but only at the risk of severely angering a prominent local politician.
I’m not going to get into the details of the (very long) story, but the gist of it is the politician had shown a fondness for a model the company hired on a regular basis. The model had saved emails and other correspondence from the pol, many of which would have made very interesting reading for his wife, let alone the media.
Ultimately, the owner of the porn company balked at the idea of trying to make publicity hay out of the politician’s wayward affections, in large part because the man was in the middle of a long term in office. If he survived the scandal that doubtless would have ensued, he might have been inclined to retaliate against the company.
Located far from the relatively comfortable confines of Porn Valley, the company had done a very good job of flying under local authorities’ radar. To generate publicity from the humiliation of a local politician would have outed us in a big way. Even if the philandering legislator at the center of the proposed scandal didn’t choose to retaliate (or decided he couldn’t), we would have been left looking over our shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop at the behest of his allies and colleagues.
Looking back at the situation now, whatever risks the company thought it faced back then seem truly laughable when compared to, say, having ISIS threaten to cut off your head.
“It was through social media,” Mia Khalifa said of the threats she’s received from ISIS (or people claiming to be associated with the group, at least). “They photoshopped a picture of me being beheaded and threatened that that would happen to me.”
Granted, social media threats happen all the time, and relatively few of them ever play out in the real world. Still, it’s one thing to be threatened by some anonymous teenage troll whose only allegiance is to his own vivid fantasy life and quite another to be menaced by people claiming association with a militant group that has earned a reputation for doing the exact thing with which you’ve been threatened.
To Khalifa’s credit, she’s not giving her online tormentors the satisfaction of being cowed by them. She continues to live her life quite publicly, not receding into hiding or dropping off the grid.
“Did that worry you at all?” Jason Bishop of The Sports Junkies asked Khalifa in a recent interview. “For one second?”
“It does, but I try not to show it, because you can’t show weakness,” Khalifa responded. “That’s exactly what they’re looking for. I really try and just make it look like it rolls off, but I’ll admit, it gets to you after a while.”
On the one hand, it’s tempting to say Khalifa has nothing to worry about. ISIS is occupied primarily with fighting a multi-front war in Syria and northern Iraq, after all, and beheading an American porn performer — even one who has offended their sensibilities by wearing a hijab during an explicit scene — seems like it would be low on the group’s list of priorities.
ISIS is well-known to attract, groom and develop “lone wolf” types, however — individuals who have never met face to face with any of the jihadis scrapping in Syria, but who gleefully carry out acts of terrorism in the name of ISIS. This is the possibility that would concern me if I were Khalifa: a “sleeper cell” consisting of one, isolated whack job seeking to make a name for himself by separating a famous infidel’s pretty head from her neck.
I suppose a cynic might wonder whether Khalifa is making up the threats to get attention, but this is no trumped-up shark attack. Khalifa claims to be targeted by one of the world’s most fearsome militant groups. ISIS might see value in latching onto the claim and trying to fulfill it, even if the terrorist network never uttered the threat in the first place.
I find it much easier to believe Khalifa’s claims than to believe she’d run that sort of risk just to put her name back in the headlines, particularly considering how easy it is for her to get attention whenever she wants, without poking dangerous jihadis with a cyber-stick.
Not that Khalifa ever will read this post, but still I feel compelled to say this for her benefit: Stay free, stay yourself, live your life, have your fun, yes — but keep your eyes and ears open, too.
These ISIS motherfuckers don’t play around, after all, and their allies, wannabees and others inspired by them can be found way beyond the borders of their imaginary caliphate.
Mia Khalifa via Instagram.
