photo of eyeglasses from Auschwitz (German Federal Archives) |
What is the difference between showing films of the allies
liberation of concentration camps with their piles of corpses, body parts,
teeth, glasses and other artifacts and the decision of Fox News to show a still
of the burning Jordanian pilot on TV and the whole video on its web site, (“Jordan executes 2 prisoners after ISIS video shows pilot being burned alive,”Fox News, 2/4/15). CNN
has taken a holier than thou attitude about the showing of such violent videos,
feeling that they are propaganda for ISIS(“Why does CNN refuse to show ISIS video?” CNN, 2/3/15). But propaganda about what? How could
the sight of masked ISIS soldiers looking on while their captor is burned alive
in a cage be looked at as positive propaganda? Films of animal
cruelty have yet to attain such heights of brutality. Granted in the l9th
hangings were forms of public entertainment. But there are still no shortage of those who
deny the reality of the Holocaust and though it’s hard to believe, there are
going to be apologists for ISIS somewhere who will only be
chastened by the reality of horrifying videos that the organization itself
produces. For Heidegger one of the means by which a human being can attain an authentic existence is through the awareness of death. The CNN anchor Carol
Costello made the point that the network will show a plane crash, but not
show pictures of a human being actually dying. Sure these are tough calls since
there are instances where the broadcasting of such images is an invasion of
privacy that takes away from a sacrosanct moment in human life. Media outlets like CNN and the Times gain credibility by creating an aura of equanimity that eschews sensationalism. But is there
any point in hiding searing images of torture, mass murder and genocide? Are we
sparing the victims and the families, or the perpetrators of these atrocities?
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