Friis believes that the beheadings from the videos released by ISIS were instrumental in legitimizing military action in the Middle East. Firstly, the beheadings were a subject of significant coverage by American administrators who have described the videos as a “cancer”, “an imminent threat to democracy”, a “direct threat to America” and as “a terrorist attack in and of itself”. These statements not only establish ISIS as the Other; they also serve in legitimizing future military action in the Middle East. Hayes states that following the release of the videos, the number of American airstrikes and troops in the Middle East doubled; however, this was not criticized by the American media or by any organized efforts by the mass population in