york. i'll be back with another hour of news at 11:00 pm eastern, 8:00 pm pacific. stay tuned. "consider this" starts now. thanks for watching. the u.s. substance up its role in a major offensive against the most dangerous al qaeda affiliate. how much of a difference will it make? a journalist flees pakistan, barely escaping his bullet-ridden car. the gaming are of speaking -- danger are of speaking out about human rights in that area. googles rite to link to anything online - where does your right to provide si end. >> jay z's fight with his sister-in-law goes viral -

important stories on social media appear to go nowhere. >> i'm antonio mora, here is more of what is ahead on "consider this." >> pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. >> media in pakistan are facing fears, journalists have been killed. >> the hoy court ruled that goog -- high court ruled that google must delete links about its users if they ask. >> the european court of justice said to google you need to respect the right of privacy. >> people will be better protected. >> the incident set social media on fire. >> jay z and beyonce haven't addressed the vid yox. >> there's no such thing as privacy. we begin with a hot war in yemen. as u.s.-backed government forces struggle to cross one of the al qaeda's deadly affiliates, al qaeda or aq a.p. a yemeni attack helicopter,

fighter jets and artillery on views blasted at al qaeda hiding places in the south of yemen. state-run media reported five al qaeda militants had been killed in an air strike. the military campaign on april 29th followed a series of attacks by drones that reportedly killed 65 al qaeda militants. the question - can the u.s. and yemen destroy al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. i'm joined by former director of the c.i.a.'s counterterrorism sector. he's chairman of the advisory board for e.r. j part engineers, with a -- partners, with a focus on security and intelligence and is an al jazeera contributor. yemen's quost is committed -- government is committed, so is the aq a.p. which responded with suicide attacks and an ambush

aimed at the minister of defence. can the yemeni government, with u.s. hep, drive al-qaeda out of yemen. >> i think the straight-out april is no. they can't drive al-qaeda where are out in the short term. we are seeing military gapes. fighting the cop ventional gapes, they can make it difficult to hold territory. we are seeing a movement on the part of the militants to move into adjacent move jipss -- provinces and the number of claimed casualties, claimed by the yemeni government are small. what we are seeing is a dispersal of these fighters into provinces. that serves the short-term ams of the yemeni government. they don't want to see this organization controlling turf in what is nominally their country. >> yemen fought a similar campaign, and they came back strongly. don't they always have that

option in that kind of rugged ter rain out there of just disappearing and coming back and fighting another day? >> yes. in conventional military terms this is a difficult fight to wam, and when you deal with what is essentially an insurgent army they have the initiative. in this, as in other insurgencies, the ultimate solution is political. the government has agreed to a federal political setup in yemen whereby six regions will be provided with their own executive and own legislative authorities, and the hope is in the lopping term it will drive a wege between al qaeda and the arabian peninsula and the local people. >> i know much of what you used to do was getting in the head of these guy, and we showed the

video of the aq a.p. rally, where the group was addressed by al qaeda's number two. was released the video a mistake, and, in fact, waving a red flag to a bull - that bull being the u.s. in yemen? >> well, perhaps. that said, they need to be able to show that they are independent, they are autonomous, they can stand up to the government in yemen, which has many enemies, and to the westerners who are seen with a great deal of distrust by local people in many parts of the country. it would probably be wisest for them not to do that often. but i think it's important to show themselves politically every now and again. >> tensions are so high, that the u.s. embassy in sanaa has been closed to the public. two embassy officials, one c.i.a., the other a special operator shot and killed two yemenis who were reportedly tied

to this cell that was kidnapping people, and they were trying to kidnap the two minister at a barber shop. is the clandest in war as hot as the military campaign in al qaeda? >> i think that there is a clandestine war which is raced within the largest contents of this fight where the government in senna is trying to establish its authority around the country. within that struggle there is the counterterrorism struggle, if you will, between the u.s. and the west, and the militants focussed not just on local issues in yemen, but on the larger target and particularly on the united states. >> how important is it for our security at home to defeat al qaeda and the arabian peninsula? >> these - this is an organization which poses not just a theoretical threat. these are people who have struck

at the united states in the past. they could easily have brought down an airliner in detroit in 2009. a year later they came close to bringing down a cargo plane that was transiting toward the united states. so these are people that pose a threat. i don't think we want to overexaggerate it. this is a legitimate concern. it's important for the u.s. to carry out the campaign in a way that enhances and does not undermine support for the government in sepah. at the end of the day that will determine the direction of this struggle. >> let's talk about the broader al qaeda threat. last year brought a 43% increase in terror attacks. we have talked before on the show how al qaeda and its affiliates hold more territory. there has been a split in syria, where the head of al qaeda denounced one group, it is fighting the other group.

also we saw how some terrorists elements condemned boko haram in nigeria for targetting muslims and children. are there cracks in the grand al qaeda picture? >> yes, there are. this is nothing new. when we talk about cracks in the facade of al qaeda, this is just a facade. al qaeda is really more of a movement than it is a co-heerpt organization. many of the different groups that we are talking about operate independently. the problem between al qaeda central - the organization controlled by the successor to osama bin laden is that al qaeda is much more sensitive than some of the local groups to the long-term political effect when they are killing large numbers of civilians. that is the problem that al qaeda has with the islamic state of iraq and syria, an organization that has been disowned as you mentioned a

couple of minutes ago. the same is true of boko haram. knich its muslim -- given its muslim extremist affiliation has not done itself photographs by kidd -- favours by kidnapping 200 or so young women. it's that which boko haram is struggling against. these are independent organizations, they don't depend on al qaeda, and don't look to them for leadership. they like the brand, because of all it conveys in the public mind, but at the end of the day the people depend on themselves and the fact that they are estrapinged doesn't make them -- estrapinged doesn't make them less dangerous. good to have you on the show. thank you. pakistani journalists are, sadly, dying to tell their stories. amnesty international reports 34 journalists have been assassinated in pakistan since

2008, the year the country switched from a dictatorship to a democracy. our next guest left pakistan after baring surviving an attack. a journal unfortunate was injured when his car came under gun fire as he left a studio. his driver killed, body card injured. it was a fifth incident involving media group. we are joined by that journalist. he's consulting for a pakistani weekly paper and a senior fellow at a public policy think tank in islamabad. good to have you with us. this attack came a week after the prime minister said he wanted to make pakistan journalists friendly nation, pakistan known as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. your driver was killed, body guard injured. why do you believe you were

targeted? >> i think the problem in pakistan is that there are certain areas where you cannot freely report or comment about. whether these have to do with cepsive national -- sensitive national security issues, where you get into trouble with the state. if you are too vocal by the minority, human rites, challenging the marriages of the extremists, and the way they justify violence, you know, in the name of faith or honour or whatever. so then they respond with these attacks. >> thous how you think you -- that's how you think you've been in trouble, our n outspoken human rights and advocate for the minorities. >> exactly. >> who. >> the non-mousse limbs, 3-5" of pakistani -- 3-5% of pakistani is not muslim. within muslims there are sects, the shiite sect, other

communicatees and smaller sects who are under attack, and there has been murders and target killings, and when you report on them and question why that is happening in the name of fate and ideology, obviously you anger the extreme groups, and sadly we have a few dozen of them running around in the country. >> part of the problem is there has been virtual impunity. >> that is the issue. as you mentioned, so many journalists since 2008 have been killed. but very few of the murderers have been either nabbed or prosecuted or sentenced. this is the problem - once you don't sentence the killers, the culture of impunity gets deeper and deeper. >> why is that happening. does the government not want to go after the extremists? i understand if it's government elements conducting the attacks. in the cause of extremists -

what is the issue? >> i think there's partly an issue of state capacity. first of all, pakistan's justice system is antiquated. it has not been reformed sense the 19th century. the second issue has to do with the fact that, you know, going after extremists by the politicians, they feel endangered. if you remember benna xie bhutto was murdered. we had a christian minorities minister, a governor of a province who was advocating against the use of certain laws, and he was murdered by that. they are scared to go after the extremists. are they in bed with the extremists. we had an author who wrote about how the i.s.i., the intelligence service in pakistan supported the taliban. is that part of the problem?

>> i think the lines are blurred for sure, but as regards - there has been an historical relationship between the taliban movement with the pakistani state, not just the i.s.i. but the government and state supported them. in the last decade there's a pakistani branch emerging, and their target is pakistanis and the states. they have killed five army generals, nearly 5,000 soldiers, attacked i.s.i. installations themselves. it's more complicated than the earlier, you know, distinction of the i.s.i. being in bed with them or the government being in bed with them. it's more complicated. if i put it very briefly, you know, it's the ipp ability -- ipp ability of the state to rise to the challenge that it's grappled with.

>> talking about challenges the state said it wants a pakistani committee to protect journalist, that it would do more. weeks after you were attacked a major figure in pakistan, another journalist, was attacked. will you ever feel safe to go back? >> i mean, that is a major worry and concern at the moment. the police have arrested six alleged killers who killed my driver, and i must say that my poor driver had been with me for years. i saw him die, and the real fear and worry is that i don't want anyone to be caught in a crossfire once i go back. whatever happens to me will happen. any harm in the accidental or, you know, sort of like that would - would be really heavy on my conscience. i think, yes, if the police proceed with the investigation, if there's strong prosecution

evidence gathering and the court sentencing them, surely i am somewhat more comfortable in returning. and i hope that is done in a few weeks or months time. >> even though your media outlet has been targeted a series of time, why? >> the media outlet - there was a bomb found outside a burio chief's -- bureau chief's house. i think partly because our media organization - both of the paper expressed and is a popular paper, it's a liberal, outspoken paper. i think the group is headed by, you know, a businessman from the minority sect community which, by and large, is under attack in pakistan. there's a mixed factor. mixture of reasons for that happening. >> it's an important story. obviously pakistani journalists

are seption to get the -- seption to get the story out. pakistan being an important country to the united states. good to see you. i'm glad you are okay. we wish you the level. thank you for coming in. "consider this" will be right back.

in what some are calling a landmark ruling the european union's highest court said tuesday that google must grant users under certain circumstances the right to delete links to news articles, legal documents and other information about them. while the courts' decision applies to the 28 european union countries, it's a setback for google and other search engine operators, including yahoo and microsoft. they'll be required to referee complaints from users and strikes at the heart of privacy

rights. we are joined by stefan hoir. the u.s. gropt for the yerm -- correspondent for the german business magga zeep, covering technology. he's contributor to daily dot and author of "faking it." let's begin with the rule. the case originated in spain. a man argued when a google search turned up an auction notice of his repossess said home in -- repossessed home in 1998 that was anissue with privacy rates. why is google responsible for removing it. are they not just enabling the publishing of what others are doing. >> google is the controller of the data, it's not just a phone company, it's presenting information by processing and

indexing it. that is the difference. that is why the court thinks google should be responsible for removing the links. >> doesn't it put google in the position of making decisions of what should be public information and what should be private. do we want google to do that? >> google and other internet companies make those decision, whether we know it or not. the page rank algorithm that decides what we see in what spot, whether it's page 1 or 5 of the search result - that's a decision they make. it's based on software and is a decision making. in that sense it's nothing new. >> the ruling says the web pages can be taken down if they are ipp adequate, no longer relevant. it seems to me as a practicing lawyer, that that is broad language. if you pardon the silly champ,

could i complain to google and have them take down a picture of 20 years ago, or someone with a mug shot from 20 years ago, could they say that's irrelevant now. >> you are right, it's unchartered territory, we'll have to see how many file complaints or take-down notices. it's not unprecedented. you have media companies with take-down notices, whether from a few years or weeks ago. google looks and decides what to take down. the basic question is do we want commercial entities such as google decide whether to live our lives under a giant magnifying glass. >> true. it gives them - it seems to me it gives them a lot of power, and what about public figures,

politicians that may want to hide something, saying that was a long time ago, it's not relevant, take the information down, but the voters don't have a chance to decide whether it is relevant or not, because it's been taken down. >> the ruling from what i understand makes a distinction between public figure or appearance of public interest so there's a higher bar. as far as google making decisions is concerned, that's going on - whether you get something as a first result or a fifth result - for example, a politician - it can determine whether you see something. we have the filtering policies. >> don't you think it will become the wild west if it stands in europe and elsewhere, where everybody is going to the companies saying "i want this done, i want that done", i think it would be expensive for google to be able to respond to the

requests. whether it is expensive, i don't know. there is a process - take-down notices for copy right materials. the process works well. there'll be a process. it's not clear how we do the playout. will google wait to be sued or wait for a form to come in. this is a brand new decision that came down. it has to be seep in the con -- seen in the context of e.u. privacy changes. this is just the start of a longer process. >> you have to wonder about lawsuits. it is only binding in 28 counties of the european union. what about the u.s. do you think there's a chance something like that could happen here? >> without being a lawyer, the local framework in the u.s. when it comes to privacy and personal data is different. it's usually case law, state any

state cap be different. there are few frameworks. some date from 1996, when the cloud was science fiction, and there's a bill in congress to update that. the u.s. has a different playing field in that sense, but the companies that are working globally must find a way to synchronize the two frameworks. the european and the u.s. one. >> if it came it the u.s. it raises first amendment and privacy issues that would be interesting to discuss and see what would happen there. >> it's a pleasure to have you with us. thank you for trying to explain this to us. thanks. >> thank you for having me. >> multiple births in america are sky rocketing. so are concerns about the costs to families and society. >> only 2% of single births are preterm, after eight months of

pregnancy, 11% of twins and a third of triplets are born early. pre-term birth increases rskss and all -- risks and all sorts of other issues costing $26 billion to the u.s. health system. a study in the medical jury room is calling for policies changes -- medical jury is calling for policy to reduce multiple births. a lot of ethical consequence. let's talk -- questions. let's talk about what is going op. we are seeing increases in multiple birth because of fertility treatments. what are the consequences? >> first, women are waiting longer to have babies. single mums are not sure mr right is coming ahopping, so they turn to fertility.

premature babies cost money - $26 million, driven by multiple berths. another problem. you have more premature births, more disability in the kids. we don't like to talk about it, because it's great to have kids and for infertile couples, it's a miracle. >> this is happening because fertility treatments increase the likely hoods of that happening and ipp vitro, because it costs so much funny and is rarely covered by insurance, that parents have multiple embryos implanted more often than not. they want to make sure that some embryo takes, and they have more implanted, and that end up resulting in more twins and triplets and bigger multiple births. >> that's right. you come m and may be -- come in and may be told your insurance

doesn't cover the treatment. it may be $15,000 a try. >> it's not that outland sh. >> it's a regular charge. >> exactly. let's say that's the number. you hear and think how often will i do that. give me as many embryos as you can, that i make. put them in, because i want one shot to work. you make it six, sex, eight embryos. if all of them take or some of them take, multiple pregnancies. if we locked at the cost and just of taking fertility drugs, they can cost thousandsful all the incentives are have the babies as fast as a can, because insurance doesn't pay for it. >> what do we do, if this is a big problem. i guess most parents don't want twins or triplets, but the one baby. what can we do to make things

better? if you call it better. i'm not meaning to imply it's a bad thing. >> it wouldn't be fair to not come here and have a shot at the media. we glorify the sepp tup the, octobero mum - it's bad for the mum and the babe yes. i have been sooep a 6, 7 -- seen a 6, 7, 8 birth where the kids weren't disabled. >> have a lot of problems. >> we don't want to make it seem like this is a good thing to do. some centers should say we are not going to transfer nor than three or four embryos, it's not safe for you or those painies to be -- babies to be. we could start to pay more. if you pay $26 billion for prematurely, throwing the so or $is a,000 under health reform - that's a worthwhile investment.

you get less prematurely. we ought to cover it. >> you think covering fertility treatments would save us money in the long run. >> i do. >> what ethical questions are the big ones that are raised by all this? >> probably the biggest is this dash and i say it with trepidation. it's a procedure that is out there. if you have a multiple birth, it is possible to do selective reduction, kill a foetus in utero or more. some say, "well, let's transfer the embryos and take it from four babies to two, or two to one", huge ethical questions. remember, these are couples that want to have babies. you say you are having too many, we'd like you to consider selective reduction. usually they don't want to hear about that. others say it's wrong to eliminate children, it's a soapies choice that no one should make. it's a technique out there. it's controversial.

>> so many ethical considerations. >> enough to keep you busy. >> economical and health care considerations. >> a lot of happy parents - they wouldn't have had children otherwise. >> it's a miracle that happens in the way it has over how many decades? >> 79. >> upbelienbelievablunbelievabl. good to see you. >> "consider this" will be right

back. try and understand russia is as hard as solving a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma - that's as true today as in 1979 when truman first said it. for a granddaughter, finding the truth of her russian history tells us about the former first family of the ussr and about vladimir putin. joining us is an associate professor in a graduate programme of international fairs, and a fellow of the world policy institute and a member of the council on foreign relations. her latest book is out. tas fascinating read. you said you thought about writing a book about vladimir putin, but you couldn't do that without looking into this

history first. >> absolutely. when i thought about vladimir putin, when he came in, and after we had gosho shove's promise that russia is a democracy. and over things we thought were demoaccurate, institutions were - similar institutions are being hampered, civil liberties, and all the things happened, so i wanted to write about this. i thought about the ghool ag, how we end up with dictators, with all the opportunities, reformers. i wrote this. and i thought the first man of the 20th century, trying to go forward with changes, yet he came back to his own despodic past and some of the stalinest matters even if it was denounced. >> you told a great story.

he's your great grandfather but he adopted your mother when your grandfather died. so you considered him your grandfather. now, most americans think of him in standard images, slamming the shoe on the table at the united nations or the cuban missile crisis. you write, as you were saying, about the reforms, that he instituted after stalin's death, that the fall in the soviet union back then really was a precursor that led to gosh chof and to the dessolution of the soviet union. >> absolutely. that is what i find remarkable about him. as much as he wanted to change, and he wanted to change. he wanted to change the dictatorial system - he started the exchange and the festival of youth, and for the first time the soviets saw foreigners, and they were not evil as the

stalinists told everybody. suddenly when he came to the united states the first time in 1959, travelled all over the place, in fact, had debates with rockefeller as governor of new york, and basically telling him how much better communism is than capitalism because he poor peasant or coal miner, now was in charge of the whole soviet union, and all the other things. he was trying to change. he brought the washington machine to the soviet union, luxury products is not what they were doing. tanks and military. >> self-serve caf tearias that he found in the united states. >> he tried. he opened intelligence. the arts were possible. fredrico fel eeny was shown, 8.5, that won the film festival. he implied but was a despo that came out of stalin. >> you write that he would have

admired gorbachev but would have been it's pond ept over -- despondent over vladimir putin. >> i think so, gosho chof tried to change the system. they were devoted communists, they believed in applied correctly - we haven't seep it applied correctly in any county, but they believed it could bring great good to the nation. and with vladimir putin, he would agree with his idea that russia should be a great country and see a lot of it was self-serving. there's a lot of investigation or conversation of how rich vladimir putin is, and would have despised the whole getting well through changeness. >> an incredible story is he was deposed in 1964. the soviet government was taken over by stalinists who took the soviet union back to where it

had been. you were able to go to an elite school. they didn't aust ra cries you and your family after he was deposed, but they eliminated him, there was no rmps to him in -- reference to him in anything that you studied. >> he was there when i went to school in 1954 to 1985. anything was done in the soviet union. it was done by the communist body by the soviet union. >> everything in the soviet union is about the tsar or the soviet leader. what he did allowed for him to be retired. he was the first leader retired in russia. and he didn't die, he wasn't killed, and he was able to do the farming. i continued to go to very elite school, and so that is something that he did. he opened up the system, and the stalinist, as you called them.

they couldn't close it completely. >> and it is your grandfather, who decided during world war ii, and you bring up how he then later - a whole story was built about how he had been a traitor to the nazis, and we are not going to have time to get into the detail. i'll leave it as a tees, because the book is full of fascinating characters, full of history, and is it gets you inside the russian mind. >> thank you. >> as always, great to have you on the show. >> thank you. >> "consider this" will be right

back. may 13th marks an intent for

the hollow caused. the st. louis ocean liner left germany on what is known as the voyage of the damned. more than 900 expected to find asylum in cuba. they were turned away and rejected by the united states and canada. forced to return to europe, many found themselves victims of nazi cop sen tryings camps. -- concentration camps. martin goldsmith traced the lives of his father and grandfather. it's the subject of a new book. martin, good of you to join us. you say that you felt the deep need to connect with that vanished generation of your family which was murdered a decade before you were born. why did you choose to trace the life of your grandfather and uncle to follow the path that led to their deaths at aalst

witch. >> my parents made it to this country, they had survived because they were musicians with the jewish cultural association. they made it safely to america in 1941. by that time my father's father and his younger brother, my uncle, were held in camps in france. they wrote letters to my father. when i began to work on my first book, my father gave me the letters saying "you should probably learn about this." my father felt guilt not having been able to save his father and brother from their end in aalst witch and passed on some of that guilt to me. when my father died in 2009 and

when my brother died of a heart attack less than a year later, having lost my father and brother, i decided to trace the steps of my father's father and his brother, trying in an insane and irrational way to save my grandfather and uncle. even though they had been murdered. i felt a need, as my father failed to save his father and brother, that it sort of had fallen to me to save my grandfather and my uncle. >> there was a personal failing, there was larger failings in this story, and you were talking about learning about this. people my age and older may be aware of the tragedy of the st. louis because the voyage of the damned book, and the movie that came out. younger generations may not know or the shameful role americans played. your uncle and graf thought they

escaped. what happened? >> my grandfather was arrested on november 9th, 1938, told them after he had been released six weeks later that he had six months to leave the country or face further raft. he and my father's younger brother booked passage, leaving hamburg on 13 may 1939, 75 years ago today. he thought that they would land in cuba, establish a beach head in the western hemisphere and send for the rest of the family. power plays in the cuban government made it impossible for more than a handful of refugees to land in havana. it weighed anchor, sailed north to the coast of the united states where it plied the waters off the coast of florida, imploring the u.s. state department for permission to land in the united states. it was denied. permission was denied the right to land in canada. it sailed back across the

atlantic, a deal was brokered whereby the 900 refugees could disembark in england, france, belgium and holland. my grandfather and uncle got off the boat in france. it began a stretch of three years where they were sent from one camp to another before being september to the death camp. >> the politics in cuba, united states, canada - not letting them come in - the stories are horrible how they were in havana harbour and relatives could go out in row boats and wave. and how hundreds of the people got back to europe ended up dying. in the case of your relatives, they were in the french concentration champs. i really was not aware of that there were concentration camps run by the french without

instigation by the nazis. >> many of us know the games bell son and bookenbow and auschwitz, but there are others we should learn. ley m. >> ele was built by the french, with no prodding from the german government. when the final solution was put in effect, the french were only too happy to ship the concentration camp victims to auschwi auschwitz. >> there was a hero, the captain of theship, gooust af schroder named righteous among the nations, one of the greatest hop ours that israel can bestow on anyone. >> from the beginning, yooust you gooust ov schroder, short in

physical stature, but you say, enormous in integrity saw to it that the passengers were afforded the rights and privileges of people taking the liner from hamburg to the west and on the way back he devised a plan that the idea was that he would run the ship aground off the coast of england, and ferry everyone to safety, as it happens, those heroics were not necessary because of a deal brokered by a joint committee. after his death he was named righteous among the nations. >> the story of the st. louis is one that ought not be forgotten. so many less jps, and a powerful -- lessons, and a powerful story. the book is: . >> a pleasure to have you with us. >> great pleasure to be here. >> "consider this" will be right

back.

the "bring back our girls" campaign calling for the release of almost 300 kidnapped girls in nigeria has gone viral, used in 3.3 million tweets. it's a drop in the bucket compared to the attention of a leaked video of jay z attacked by wife beyonce's sister. the video was viewed millions of times, causing trending hash tags and parodies. what makes some viral sensations more so than others. i'm joined by the founding director of the byers center for television and popular culture. bob, good to have you on the show. you have to have been living under a rock not to have heard

about the jay z video. it's been seen 1600 times on t.m.z.'s video channel and on the internet and twitter. why do we care? >> it's not just on the internet. we turn on what we used to thing of serious news channels and they are playing it. it's making me long for last month when the malaysian plane was covered 24 hours a day. that's is looking like the era of edmond almurrow and classic news broadcasting. this is not just the great unwashed that is appealed to. it's the great washed as well. when i flip through the channels, if i encounter a really serious discussion about crimea, i know that that is more important.

i know that that is something i should know about as a citizens of a republic, but i have to say, outline more interested in hearing three people speculate with no knowledge whatsoever about what it is that beyonce's sister was kicking jay z for in the elevator. >> why. >> when the video got out. >> is it a celebrity culture, moral superiority, where we think we are better than they are? >> it's all that stuff. we enjoy telling stories about the gods behaving badly as far back as homer and the illiad, filled with celebrities of the time kicking each other in elevators, metaphorically so. the assistance of superiority or mocking, we do not feel bad when we are not celebrities, when this is what they do in

elevators, we know the people. we share them. you and i - if you told me about your crazy sibling or uncle. it would mean nothing to me. i have not met that person. same if i told you about someone in my family. we can understand when we have a conversation about toronto mayor rob ford, or when we start talking about jay z and the beyonce and her sister. we share that. >> can the same thing be's - not the share, but the rehabilitation to the donald sister-in-law racist comments. there were serious issues, but the enormous attention paid to it, was it as much about seeing a billionaire get his comeuppance? >> yes, i think so. there's a lot of good old-fashioned showeden freud where you see a guy that owns a basketball franchise, has all this money, and you can't

believe he says what he says. first of all, i think it's always exciting to see people who have been caught on tape. we used to have a series called "caught on tape", so there's that quality to beyonce's sister and donald donald sterling, and then it's that the story keeps developing. donald sterling is caught on tape saying outrageous things. he comes to apologise in an official venue and says things that are almost worse than what got him in trouble in the first place. that is a continuing story line that i have to confess i have been as interested to follow as anybody else. i'm not saying it's a good thing, but it's interesting. >> you are part of the problem, bob? >> i think that's true. i think this conversation in some way, i guess, is part of the problem. but should we not have it. >> there's a serious side, and social media can be used to positive effect. look at the "bring back our

girls" movement. >> that right. >> it forced attention to a story that almost was being ignored. >> there has been a number of case, the ones that everyone gives as election protests in iran, where you didn't have journalists practicing, and social media is all we have. you are right. in this case of bring back our girls, that became a big story in the editorial meetings of media organizations because it trended so strongly on social media. it is true. stories can fall between the cracks that can be caught by social media, that we ought to here about, that are not just about silly scandals. social media is simply a medium, as it's called. media. all kind of really important stuff gets communicated through it. all kinds of really stupid

stuff. and sometimes the stupid stuff is just what the doctor ordered for millions and millions of people. >> on the other hand stupid stuff is not what the doctor ordered. we saw a high jacking phenomenon, high jacking viral trends. in the case of "bring back the girls", it was used to brung back an unrelated conservative point and was high jacked by drone activists. it makes me wonder what are people thinking. can't they leave things alone and try to be helpful? >> well, we are talking about - i mean, this is the internet. yib that has read the comments, and it can be something as simply as a bad review knows how vicious human being can be, in a

way i hope they would never be. horrible things happen in social media. other things happen. >> unfortunately we see both sides all the time. but i guess we should be grateful to see a positive element there, and bringing attention to important issues. robert thompson, good to have you on the show. >> the show may be over, but the conversation conditions. aljazeera.com/considerthis. you can find us on twitter. see you next time.

>> how do you explain it to yourself? and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> the mountains of west virginia have provided generations with jobs in coal. but on january 9th, 2014, the state woke up to an example of the costs of it's industrial economy. a tank containing a chemical used the process of coal